Pillow Talk
by megamac1296
Summary: "Many of their most intimate moments are shared in bed, and not just the physical ones." A series of one shots about the last Uchiha and the Mizukage, Sasuke and Mei.
1. Chapter 1

They make for strange bedfellows. Not the most romantic notion about their relationship, but definitely not an inaccurate one. First off, there was the elephant in the room, their difference in time spent on this planet. Sasuke paid no mind to the rather noticeable age gap between them, and Mei was inclined to share his feelings. 12 years may be a... significant amount of time, but wasn't love timeless? Therein, lay the next problem in their relationship, it was difficult to classify where they stood with each other. Any passerby would guess that lust played a larger part than love in any interaction between them.

A suitable title for the duo was difficult to narrow down. Boyfriend and girlfriend? Mei would've laughed, she was at marrying age for goodness sake. Plus, Sasuke did not strike her as the type to settle down, at least at his current age. Yet, he would always find his way home to her after whatever adventure he had just been through. Often with more scars that would need to be healed and an insatiable appetite. Not for food, mind you, the only thing that would quench his cravings was her soft and delicate touch, and she was only too happy to oblige him.

So that would make them, temporary companions with benefits? That wouldn't work either, that implied that neither of them expected the relationship to go anywhere or had any hopes to gain anything from it. Yet, each of them had remained true to the other. Why would they treat such a casual, non-commital relationship with such respect and upheld faithfulness?

They were an enigma to the people around them and that only piqued the public's interest further. Courting, or whatever term Sasuke dubbed it, depending on his mood, the Kage of an entire nation brought him even more attention than usual. Being a reserved person, it was at this point that he would generally shut down any gossip related to his relationship with the Mizukage. Still, it kept the common people wondering about the future of the duo, would it end in wedding bells or would they be burying all the unfortunate souls who stepped into the Mizukage's path the day she got her heart broken? Again, that is.

As for the lovely couple themselves, they too were at a loss at what to call, whatever "this" was. Neither wanted to upset the status quo, Mei had too many bad relationships to count and Sasuke's experience with the opposite sex wasn't the greatest either. Still, the uncertainty was getting to the both of them and it was only inevitable until certain questions had to be answered.

So after one of their... strenuous reunifications, answers were had.

* * *

Mei laid her head upon Sasuke's sweat-slicked chest, taking in the shallow rise and fall of it as he recouped from his exertive activities. She listened to the strong, steady beat of his heart as his torso undulated beneath her. She inspected and counted all the little nicks and scratches that were certainly not present prior to his departure. As his breathing evened out, he wrapped an arm around her and looked as if he was about to nod off. Normally she would be compassionate and in a similar enough state to him, that she would simply fall asleep in his arms. However, despite all the wonderful aches that she felt, Mei was compelled to say something that she had wanted to say since the first time they had slept together.

"You have legs that would make a woman jealous."

This caused Sasuke to open his one visible eye, the other being concealed by a few bangs of hair. She knew the power that lay under that raven hair, she had experienced it before. Knowing her lover was capable of such destruction would be enough to scare away most women, however Mei Terumi was not most women.

"Excuse me?"

"It's almost impressive, do you wax or shave them?" Mei asked, as she ran her hand down the smooth trail of his leg.

"Are you seriously asking me- neither, now please let me sleep."

"Oh, you should be full of energy, that's one of your advantages. Neither eh? Uchiha men are just naturally beautiful." She chuckled.

"Hn." He responded, not really listening to her and closing his eyes again. A silence hung in the air before he quirked an eyebrow. "What did you mean by _one of your advantages_?"

"Well it's a pro in this little courtship of ours, your vigour definitely reaps some benefits." She whispered in that sultry voice of hers.

"Weighing your options, are you?" Sasuke asked, a ghost of a smile forming.

"Yes." Mei replied, not a hint of humour in her tone. Sasuke's eyes once again shot open, only to find Mei's face worryingly stern.

"You're serious?"

"I'm a grown woman Sasuke, my experience with men has been... tumultuous at best. As fun as _this_ has been, I need to start thinking about the future and that starts with figuring out where we stand. What were you expecting when we started these little rendezvous sessions?" Sasuke looked at her blankly.

"I was thinking, I saved the world, came back to my senses and decided I might enjoy life for a change."

"That's it? You were a young man fueled with a lust for life and decided to convey that lust onto me? That is not a compelling case you're making Sasuke."

Sasuke's head was whirling, why was she acting like she held all the power here? Did she not realise who he was, how many women had yearned for him, how he could have any he chose with a snap of his fingers? Yet here Mei was, deciding whether to throw him out into the cold, like he was an afterthought.

"What are you saying?" Sasuke asked cautiously. Mei rolled her eyes.

"I know you're young Sasuke, but I like to give you the benefit of the doubt for being smarter than the average man, do keep up. Why did you choose to come all the way here, surely there are plenty of women in Konoha who could fulfil your desires? Maybe even younger and better than me, unlikely as that is." Sasuke smirked, he did like her confidence, better that than someone meekly agreeing with everything he said.

"You first. You've been laying all your cards on the table, why stop now. You could have thrown me out the second I walked into town, I was the most hated ninja in all Five Nations. Yet you welcomed me with open arms or rather, open legs." Mei silently heated some saliva with her chakra, and let it spill onto Sasuke's chest causing him to yelp in pain.

"You would do well to watch your tongue Uchiha, or I might still throw you out, give or take a few appendages."

"Duly noted." He replied drily.

"I... respected your dedication to your mission. You managed to keep a certain, twisted level of honor with you, before you completely lost it at the Five Kage Summit. You were the last Uchiha alive, that exclusivity was alluring. When, I finally got a look at you, you didn't disapppoint and lived up to expectations. My own personal lust played a role, it had been a while since I felt the touch of a man, even longer since one of your calibre. Finally, saving the world is admirable beyond compare."

Sasuke took in her reasons for taking him into her bed, they were reasonable, logical even. It was only fair he indulge her in return:

"When I first saw you, you weren't threatened, intimidated, scared, anything. I don't think I even emitted a reaction from you beyond mild annoyance. Even in my haste to pursue Danzo, that gave me pause. You were the first to not show any emotion towards me, Gaara had pity, the Raikage was blazing with fury, the Tsuchikage was arrogant, Danzo trembled with fear. I knew you were not to be underestimated, yet did so anyway. If it wasn't for my allies, I would have been dead. You have amazing power at your disposal, you hold a prestigous title as Mizukage and do your position justice with your service. You are a woman to be respected and someone I could see as my equal. Also, a body such as yours certainly doesn't hurt." She laughed at his last statement before getting comfortable again, it seemed his answer had pleased her.

"Very well Sasuke Uchiha, you may continue to impress me."

"Is that so? That would make us..."

"Titles are rather limiting, don't you think?"

"And what will your adoring citizens think?"

"I didn't take you as the type to listen to gossip."

"I'm not, it's just your position as Mizukage may be in jeopardy if people knew you were associating with me in such a way. I do have a sordid past."

"The people of his village did not elect me because of my personal life, they know full well that I place their best interests to the forefront, though that's a story for another time. While your concern is rather endearing, it is unnecessary."

"If that's what you think."

"It's not what I think, it's what I know."

Sasuke chuckled at her confidence, it reminded him of the first time they had one of these little rendezvous. He had been drifting from place to place when he had been ambushed, well he used that term loosely. With his two current eyes, it was virtually impossible for anyone to ever sneak up on him. As for engaging him in combat... the good news was that he had become more merciful since Naruto had "humbled" him. The bad news for anyone trying to take him on, was that he was one of the two strongest beings to walk the earth at the moment.

His power sometimes even frightened him, the destruction he could cause. Then there was always the Naruto way of looking at it: _"Just think of all the good you can do, the people you can help."_

He could practically hear the idiot's voice already...

"If you're going to space out on me, can you at least try and not look like you're constipated?"

"I was just thinking of the time we first met."

"You mean when I kicked your ass and would have killed you if it wasn't for that weird plant thing."

That "weird plant thing" was responsible for so much death and misery it was almost tragically amusing.

"No, not the _very_ first time. I mean, the time we weren't trying to kill each other and actually got acquainted."

"Ah, so the time you showed up to our doorstep, looking like you had taken on a physically challenged Genin-"

"It was seven Anbu-level ninja actually, it's just with my skill and power they barely laid a scratch on me."

"-before begging if you could take shelter in my village for the night."

"I didn't beg." Sasuke said sternly.

"That's true," she admitted, "but you were on your knees if I remember correctly."

"I'm beginning to think it's that attitude of yours why you haven't been able to keep a steady relationship."

Mei was about to raise her hand to him, when he grabbed her wrist. She saw a feral look in his eye and through his bangs of hair, she could've sworn that his purple eye was gleaming. She gave him a seductive smirk, it would have been no fun if he let her walk all over him. She had hoped he was just more than a pretty face and with each interaction between them, she was learning more about this enigmatic figure. He lived an electrifying life, taking everything a day at a time. While she was thinking about years into the future, it was clear that his mind was more focused on his base needs.

Mei wondered how long this relationship would last before stopping herself. Every other time she had been in this position, she had always moved too fast, causing most men to get out before things got too serious. She decided to take a leaf out of Sasuke's book and just take things slowly, and deal with any negatives when they came.

Leaning her face towards him, she closed her eyes and leisurely began to kiss him. He responded to her movements by nipping her bottom lip before meeting her tongue with his own. After refamiliarising themselves with the inside of each others' mouths, they parted to catch their breath. Mei settled herself again in his arms.

"Tell me, can you handle being with a Kage who spends a great deal of time tending to her people? It seems a bit... pedestrian and dull for you."

"I've spent most of my life with exhilaration. Normality," Sasuke let out a yawn and smiled, "normality is good."


	2. Chapter 2

With the return of Sasuke to Kirigakure, Mei couldn't help but wonder if he ever got lonely. He always seemed to travel alone and due to his past "discretions", he certainly wasn't the most popular ninja. That cocky attitude of his didn't help matters either. Overall, she really couldn't blame anyone for not liking him, he could be a real piece of work. Still, he never seemed concerned or even gave the slightest indication of being isolated, or that he cared about such matters. She had to give him some credit, he didn't change for anyone, not even her.

In fact, the only time she could remember Sasuke changing anything about himself was his vow to destroy Konoha. So, maybe the only person he changed for was someone stronger than him. Sasuke's relationship with the great new hope of the shinobi world was a cause for conversation and contention amongst many people. Mei couldn't help but wonder if people who weren't shinobi by profession, gossiped to make up for a lack of excitement in their mundane lives.

Some of the highest level shinobi were world famous celebrities, instantly recognisable wherever they went. Still, it could grate on her nerves when she heard her villagers discuss her personal life. So what if she wasn't married yet, she had plenty of time to meet the perfect guy... right?

"If you're going to space out whenever I'm not here, can you at least have a more dignified look. You have the appearance of someone who set their keys down, lost them and spent three hours looking for them, only for them to be in your pocket the whole time."

Mei rolled her eyes, there was her Prince Charming now. Sasuke came walking out of her bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, drops of water falling from his bangs of hair like a light rain trickling down from a leaf. She greedily took in her fill by viewing his toned chest and abdomen, his travels kept him in good shape.

"Think you can give me a hand when you're done staring?" He asked, a smirk adorning his features.

"Sure, I'll try not to melt your skin and bones this time." She motioned to her balcony and he stepped out onto it. The lights of Kirigakure decorating the night sky, it was a place he could look forward to coming back to from his travels.

"Yeah, we should uh... probably talk about that."

"Oh it was war, we were all trying to kill each other." She waved a hand to dismiss him.

"You were all trying to kill me." He corrected.

"Are you saying you didn't deserve it?" She raised an eyebrow.

"No, but you came remarkably close to killing me."

"But I didn't." She said acidly. "I happen to like that towel, I don't want it to blow it away."

Sasuke sighed, she seemed unwilling to go into the fact that their first interaction was one of violence. She would joke and say that she would have beaten him if it wasn't for Zetsu, or just flat out tell him to shut up. He removed and folded the towel before setting it down, feeling Mei's predatory eyes stalk every movement he made. He once again stepped out onto the balcony and looked at her expectantly. He rolled his eyes when he saw her looking directly down, she was as single and gutter minded as he was.

Mei made some precise hand signs before a draught of warm air hit Sasuke's skin, drying him off. His hair was sent back giving her a view of his Rinnegan before neatly settling back into its original position.

"It always amazes me how your hair knows to go back into that shape. I can't imagine anyone purposely styling their hair to look like a bird's a-"

Sasuke raised his hand and with a small blast of Chakra, sent Mei flying back elegantly onto her bed. She looked at him wide eyed as he sauntered over to her.

"Haven't heard that one before." He muttered.

"What the hell was that?" She asked. She wasn't angry, more genuinely curious.

"A new jutsu I picked up while travelling. Naruto said it was one that Pain had used; Almighty Push, Shinra Tensei, something like that. Now, are you going to tell me what you were thinking about earlier?" He asked while crawling into bed.

Mei got off her bed to go and get ready to join him for the night. She was ashamed to admit that Sasuke might be neater than her, his clothes were delicately folded while she threw hers on the ground without a second thought. The only articles of clothing that she protected were her Kage robe and hat.

"I was actually thinking about you and Naruto."

"In what way?" Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"What?" She asked, puzzled by his sudden anger.

"Listen, yes it's true that we kissed but it wasn't my fault. He fell on me-"

Mei had a look of utter bewilderment on her face and Sasuke realised too late that she had no idea what he was talking about.

"I'm not going to even dignify that with a response. What I was actually thinking about was how much he sacrificed and fought to keep you alive. For a guy who doesn't have a lot of friends, you're very lucky to have someone like him on your side."

"Oh please, I get enough of that from everyone else, I was hoping I wouldn't have to hear it from you as well." Sasuke said irritably.

"Alright, I won't bring it up again, if you explain to me why he would go that far for you, no offence meant."

"None taken." Sasuke muttered before sighing. "Who is Naruto Uzumaki to me? Would you believe me if I told you that we were reincarnations of two brothers who happened to be the sons of The Sage of the Six Paths?"

"Probably, I mean, with all the crazy stuff that's happened, it wouldn't be too farfetched to believe. So what, you're the evil twin and Naruto is the good one?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"Well when you put it like that it sounds incredibly stupid."

Sasuke ignored her. "Who is Naruto Uzumaki to me? First kiss, second brother, third on my list of people to kill after Itachi and Danzo. My other half. Yang to my Yin."

"He completes you?"

"He saved me."

"Hm, well I'll give you some credit for at least having one friend." Mei said sarcastically.

"I have more than one friend." Sasuke said defensively.

Mei raised an eyebrow. "I don't count."

"I wasn't referring to you." He growled, only adding to Mei's amusement.

"Alright, who then, your other teammates?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. His history with both of his teams was tumultuous at best.

Sakura was an enigma to him, he could understand having a crush but what sick, twisted process contorted her mind into thinking that she loved him. Even trying to kill her didn't seem to sway her opinion, though it seemed putting her in a Genjutsu finally snapped her out of her delusions. Rather ironic, now that he thought about it. Still, after he left Konoha to wander the lands, she had not spoken to him. In fact, the past few times he had returned home she didn't even come to see him. Naruto made excuses for her, saying how she had taken over the main hospital duties and was very busy, but Sasuke knew the truth. It would take time for the various wounds he had inflicted on her to heal.

Kakashi had let him go his own way by pardoning him and practically begging him not to commit anymore crimes. He did the old man a favour by not immediately breaking out of custody after the war. Sasuke considered it a sign of good faith on his part, after a few months in a rather cushy cell, the new Hokage and Naruto had managed to convince most people to forgive his past actions.

So that was two friends.

He didn't really know Yamato or Sai well enough to consider them his friends. Yamato didn't seem to bear him any ill will after their initial confrontation... or piercing him with a sword. Maybe, there was a reason he had so few friends after all. Sai was much the same, though he was mercifully more intelligent than Naruto, so there was that.

Two friends, two... acquaintances?

Then there was his other team, the less said about them the better. He had recruited each member personally because they were talented, yet, during their fight with Killer B he realised that he had come to value them more than just tools in his plan to kill Itachi. Travelling from place to place with them had almost been... fun. He hadn't really kept in touch with them after the war but he was sure that they were doing fine, under the watchful eyes of Orochimaru.

Sasuke grimaced, alright maybe not so fine. He made a mental note to go check up on them and make sure that his old teacher was not back to his old malevolent ways.

"I have five friends and two acquaintances." Sasuke declared.

"Congratulations?" Mei shrugged her shoulders.

Sasuke leaned his face close to hers. "You know, you've been mocking me about my lack of friends but I think you're one to talk."

Mei smirked up at him. "I'll admit, I don't have someone who would go to the lengths for me that Naruto went for you."

Sasuke flopped back down onto his side of the bed. "Talking about Naruto is a major turnoff for me."

"Really, I thought you said that you had kissed before?"

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "It wasn't like that, he got bumped into- you know what I don't have to explain this to you."

Mei laughed at him. "I guess I should thank Naruto for those tongue skills you possess then. Tell me, is it true what they say about blondes?"

Sasuke growled, causing her to laugh harder at him. He put his hand over her mouth, muffling her laughs.

"You know, if there was one thing you ought to thank Naruto for, it's his convincing me to not kill all the Kage including you." Sasuke said, causing Mei to immediately stop laughing and narrow her eyes at him. "I mean, I wasn't going to actually do it. I just needed him to know that I was serious."

"You were going to kill me when I was under the Infinite Tsukuyomi?"

"Well, it makes up for the time that you were going to kill me." He tried weakly. There were probably many other ways he could have gotten her to stop laughing without such severe repercussions.

"Goodnight Sasuke." Mei said icily, as she turned away from him.

"Wait, Mei." Sasuke angled his head towards her ear. "I haven't been home in a while, didn't you miss me?" He whispered.

Mei turned to him and smiled. "Oh Sasuke, of course I did." He returned her smile and moved to kiss her, before she pressed two fingers against his lips. "Unfortunately, similar to how talking about Naruto is a turnoff for you, telling me about how you were going to kill me while I was defenceless, has a way of killing the mood."

And with that, Mei curled her leg and sent Sasuke crashing out of their bed with a kick to his sternum. He spent several minutes wheezing and winded, and when he turned back to look at Mei, she was facing away from him.

Sasuke sighed and laid back onto the carpeted floor. He wasn't sure but he was guessing that Mei was the type to hold long, angry, sexless grudges. It was going to be a long few days, at least he had plenty of time to work on his friend-making skills. Oh who was he kidding, the next few days were going to be spent grovelling for forgiveness.

No, he was Sasuke Uchiha damn it! He grovelled to no one. If she wanted to hold this ridiculous grudge over him, that was fine. He knew her, she was as lust-filled as he was. It was now just a matter of whose libido would break first. Sasuke smirked, he wasn't much of an exhibitionist, but there was a first time for everything.


	3. Chapter 3

A day when Sasuke returned also meant a new night, and with that came a new set of scars she would inevitably see. His body told a myriad of encounters where he had either gotten unlucky or had been extremely fortunate to even walk away. The constant danger that Sasuke faced whilst travelling was not lost on her, yet it was one of the things that she pushed to the back of her mind and preferred not think about, kind of like the massive amount of debt that Kirigakure was currently in.

Thankfully, this was not the time where he was gone permanently, in fact it was quite the opposite. Mei surveyed her, or 'their' room would probably be more accurate at this point. There were little signs of Sasuke all over, certain clothes that he didn't take with him on his adventures, various ninja tools that he no longer had a use for, his... actually that was about it, he owned little and that which was most important to him, he kept on his person. Still, what little touches that remained helped to lessen the physical distance between them, if only by a little.

Perhaps that was why she had taken to buying him new, practical gifts that he could add to his collection. For his current return, she had got him a knife-like razor. It was fitting really, a blade for a cutthroat that could double for cutting throats. To tell the truth, she had an ulterior motive, Sasuke would often come home with a bit of stubble and would be more concerned with locking lips and fornicating, than personal cleanliness. He was an early riser and by the time she awoke from his ravishment and anecdotes, he was shaved and bathed.

With his new present, came a condition. He could give her one chaste kiss when he returned, but was not allowed any mouth to mouth contact with her until he cut off whatever pathetic bristles he had chosen to come home with. He had muttered something while going to trim his sorry excuse for a five o'clock shadow.

The evening air seeped through her balcony as Mei sipped on her tea, she was surprised that Sasuke was taking so long in the bathroom. She would have imagined that he would be feeling quite frisky and do a rushed job in order to appease her. However as the bathroom door opened, she was glad to see him looking as delectable as ever. Clad in a navy, long-sleeved shirt which had the Uchiha symbol proudly emblazoned on the back, he didn't resemble the worn out wanderer that graced her doorsteps an hour ago.

"You had it washed." He noted of his shirt. Crisp and soft, it was the nicest thing he had worn in weeks.

"No I didn't." She responded, bringing a chuckle from him.

"My mistake, you had one of your servants wash it."

"I felt as though you would want something decent to wear when you returned, you're welcome."

"I don't feel as though you deserve my thanks. Perhaps I should go and thank the servant who actually did it."

"Perhaps you should, or perhaps you should keep your mouth shut and be grateful for that blade in your hand."

Sasuke smirked and strode over to her. "Tell me, am I back to my calibre of excellency?"

Mei stroked the freshly shaved and smooth contours of his mouth with her thumbs, before bringing her own lips to his. The first thing she took note of, other than how soft his lips always seemed to be, was his scent. He always had this natural, fresh smell that seriously made her wonder if the man ever sweat.

Sasuke was enticed by her soft moan and the way she yielded to him, opening her mouth to let his tongue venture in. He was tempted to use her new present to cut the straps on her dress and have his way with her then and there, if he wasn't certain that she would break him apart. Or worse, withhold sex altogether, he did not want a repeat of a few months ago. Luckily, she was as lascivious as he was and it didn't take long for her to be jumping his bones again.

Mei gave a little gasp for air as they parted. "I would say so. Tell me what do you think of the razor?"

"It's sharp."

"Thanks for the genius insight there." Mei rolled her eyes.

"It's perfect, certainly beats shaving with a kunai."

Mei visibly grimaced at that line. "You... shaved with a kunai?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Times were tough, I had to make do with what I had."

"I'd almost rather you grew a beard instead of that, it's so... unsanitary. I'm not going to catch any diseases, am I?"

"It happened a long time ago. Also, are you really worried about catching diseases from me at this point? I mean when you think about the amount of fluids, we've exchanged. "

"For such a sophisticated individual, you can be rather uncouth."

"Forgive me madam, I am sincerely grateful for this exquisite offering." He winked at her.

"Tch, I can tell by the amount of gifts you bring home in return."

"Is my company not good enough?" He asked.

"You travel around the world for weeks at a time, bringing back something for your lover shouldn't be that much of a challenge." She said, becoming increasingly annoyed.

Sasuke could see his night crumble right in front of him. He had known Mei long enough to know that once she got irritated, it was only going to get worse. He had to think of some way to save himself.

"I am often engaged in combat, anything I would get you has a high possibility of being destroyed before I return."

"Don't give me that. What is it you're always saying, that you're one of the two strongest people on the planet? If that's the case then you shouldn't be getting hit that much. Look at this room, your clothes washed and pressed, your useless ninja tools neatly organised, a roof over your head and a bed to sleep in along with one of the most beautiful women you've ever laid eyes on. A brand new _fucking_ razor, so you don't have to shave with a bloody kunai."

Sasuke was taken aback, had he been that ungrateful? Was he so arrogant to think that his presence alone was enough to constitute actual effort in their relationship? Was he so self-entitled as to think that the world owed him all that Mei mentioned, merely for saving it? He lowered his head in shame.

"Alright, I take you for granted. I am sorry." He said pathetically. Looking back up at her, he still saw that she wasn't pleased with him. "Allow me to make it up to you, this village of yours, it have any good places to eat?"

Mei's eyes widened in surprise as she realised what he was implying. "Are you planning on taking me out on a... date?"

"Sure, we've been together ten months and I've been here for roughly four, give or take, consider this an anniversary of some sort."

Mei was surprised that he knew the amount of time they had been together, she didn't. It was an intriguing concept, Sasuke and her walking through the town together. Sasuke was not a fan of the public and crowds. He liked to blend in for the most part and whenever he returned to her, he made it a point to effortlessly sneak past her Anbu guards and into their bedroom. Most of their weeks together were spent together in her home, everything was generally provided for them and brought there. The prospect of the Five Nation's most talked about and mysterious power couple making an appearance Kirigakure together was an intriguing one.

"Very well Sasuke, a date we shall have." She smiled.

Sasuke returned her smile, until he realised what the next few hours would entail. High profile movements. People, lots and lots of people, asking their ridiculous questions and sticking their noses in matters that was none of their business. The few people that had managed to recognise him on his travels and asked him the same questions, generally got mixed answers depending on his mood. That would be nothing compared to the volume of people that would flock to them as they walked through the streets.

Sasuke's smile had completely faded, he reflexively and unintentionally tucked his new razor into the same spot where he normally kept Kusanagi.

* * *

Sasuke's mood was briefly brightened as he looked at the Anbu team preparing to accompany them.

"I helped killed Kaguya, do you know who that is? Sufficed to say you wouldn't have Chakra if it wasn't for her. Mei fought Madara and almost killed me. If there is a threat that _we_ can't beat, I don't know what good you will do." Sasuke smirked, he couldn't tell because of their masks, but he guessed that they were glaring daggers at him.

"Shin, Nise, keep a low profile and follow us from the rooftops." Mei ordered, the two Anbu nodded and vanished immediately.

"They seem nice." Sasuke commented, causing Mei to laugh. "Do you have a place in mind?"

Mei raised an eyebrow. "Isn't this supposed to be your date? A bit of decisiveness would be appreciated."

"It's _our_ date, I feel as though you should have equal input."

"Oh my God, you suck." Mei shook her head. "Come along Sasuke, my adoring public awaits."

"Is adoring the right word to use, just given the amount of debt that this place is in."

"I will kill you before we get to the restaurant." She warned.

As they strolled through the streets, they caught a few wide eyed looks from passersby, however much to Sasuke's relief, no one approached them. He just hoped it would last. They walked in amicable silence, just enjoying each other's company and the warm breeze.

"So, how long are you planning on stay with me this time?" She asked him.

"How long would you like me to?"

"Ooh, you're really determined to make it up to me, aren't you? Well given the amount of gifts you owe me..."

"Isn't my company good enough, I mean genuinely? Besides, you act as if I have literally never given you anything before. What about all those pearl necklaces?"

Up on the roof adjacent and following the duo, the two Anbu physically cringed at that line, a couple of civilians who also managed to hear choked and looked at Sasuke in disgust, Mei shook her head and the silence returned immediately.

"I didn't feel good about one." Sasuke admitted.

"I can always rely on some high-brow humour from you." She said in a sarcastic tone. "Here, this is a nice place from what I hear."

Sasuke took in the building that looked like it had been painstakingly carved from white marble. Walking inside, Sasuke looked at how immaculate the place looked, while he was struggling to find even one criticism, Mei approached the front desk.

"Lady Mizukage." The receptionist warmly welcomed.

"Hello, we were planning to have dinner in this fine establishment. It's our first date, I believe my boyfriend made a reservation." Mei motioned to Sasuke, causing him to look at her in surprise.

"Very good, and what was the name sir?" The receptionist asked. Sasuke sighed and warily looked at her.

"We doing this then?" He muttered and leaned in close to the receptionist. "Look friend, I really need you to be a favour here. I didn't make a reservation, I was supposed to but I was a little busy fighting a squad of Missing Nin who threatened this very establishment."

"Really?"

"No, not really, but if you don't give me a table I might just start seeing red."

"I'm sorry sir, but we don't provide any extra privileges here, regardless of the person. I'm afraid anger will get you nowhere."

"Oh you misunderstand me, I didn't mean get angry by seeing red, I meant I will use my Sharingan to force you to give me a table."

"Hm, your reputation precedes you Sasuke Uchiha. I'll see what I can do."

Sasuke gave a malicious smile at him before returning to a grinning Mei.

"It seems your name carries weight even here." She laughed.

"If he doesn't give us a table after all that, I am going to burn this place down and cooking us dinner out of the ashes." He scowled.

"Your usual table Lady Mizukage?" The receptionist asked, having not moved an inch.

"That would be most appreciated Chakiro." Mei answered with a smile. Sasuke looked at her, refusing to believe what he was hearing.

"You didn't?"

"If the Mizukage can't get a table in her own village, then she's not much of a Mizukage, is she? Plus, watching you act all tough was pretty hot."

"I wasn't acting." Sasuke gritted his teeth.

Chakiro extended an arm, inviting the Mizukage to lead the way. Sasuke briefly activated his Sharingan as he passed him, causing the poor man to shriek in a rather high-pitched manner, Sasuke rolled his eyes. Walking alongside Mei as she led the way, Sasuke placed a hand on her backside, bringing out that sultry smirk of hers, until he sent a few volts of electricity through his fingers causing her to yelp.

"Bastard!" She spat, drawing a chuckle out of Sasuke.

Immediately the two Anbu from earlier were upon him, swords pointed at his neck. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, if that was what they considered violence towards their Mizukage, he was surprised that none of their love-making antics had gotten him executed yet.

"You mind calling off your attack dogs?" He asked.

"I don't know, I might just keep you in that position while I eat. Dinner and a show, watching you squirm is always entertaining."

Sasuke tilted his head and gave her a look that said: _"You really want to do this?"_

Mei sat down at their table and crossed her arms. "Dance monkey."

Sasuke shrugged and just as the violence started, Mei began to survey the menu. Ten seconds later, Sasuke sat opposite her.

"So what looks good?" He asked, not even sounding out of breath.

Mei looked up and saw he didn't have a scratch on him. She then peered over his shoulder and saw her two Anbu slumped unceremoniously and unconscious.

"Well, you haven't lost your touch."

"I'm hurt that you thought otherwise."

* * *

"I know there is a significant age difference between us and I really hate to say this but you are acting incredibly childish right now." Mei said to Sasuke's back. They were back in bed and he was turned away from her, refusing to speak. Dinner had been, to put it lightly, a disaster.

First, after repeatedly telling her that luxury had never been an option for him, Mei spent the majority of the meal criticising his order for being, in her words: "too simple". Next, the waitress who took their order saw the state of the two Anbu and was terrified of him for the whole evening. Once, Sasuke's tomato-based dish arrived, Mei once again spent a lengthy amount of time berating him. To top it all off, once Sasuke was about to take his first bite, one of the Anbu woke up and tackled him, causing his dinner to go all over his fresh shirt.

Sufficed to say, once Sasuke was finished breaking Shin's arm, they were politely asked to leave. At this point Sasuke was so irritated, that he went home without speaking a word to Mei. He angrily tossed his shirt on the floor and crawled into bed. Mei had been trying to coax him to talk to her, but once he started sulking, he was unlikely to come round.

"I know you're mad, and so am I. I was looking forward to a lovely evening with you, now I have to pay damages to the restaurant, an unconscious Anbu with a broken arm, and an angry Uchiha."

Still nothing.

"I know you can't stay mad at me." She whispered into his ear, before nibbling on it.

"You'd be surprised." Sasuke growled.

Mei sighed. "If it makes you feel any better, that was the best date I've been on in years."

"And when was the last time that you went on a date?" Sasuke asked. This time, it was Mei's turn to be silent, as she decided it would be best if she didn't answer. "Goodnight Mei."

She sighed, before placing her lips on his shoulder and gently kissing it. She then wrapped an arm around him and whispered. "Goodnight Sasuke. This time, I'd like you to stay for two months."

Sasuke's body softened, and he brought his own hand to hers, interlocking their fingers. "I can do that."

A comfortable silence settled over the pair.

"But that counts as your birthday present." Sasuke quickly added, causing Mei to roll her eyes. Shifting her body, she turned him towards her before climbing over him. His hands instinctively placed themselves on her thighs.

"You owe me a lot more than that." She informed him.

"Really, well then I best get started." He rolled her onto her back, while Mei could only giggle the entire time.


	4. Chapter 4

In hindsight, two months with Sasuke may have been a bit much, even for her. If she ever wanted an idea of what their life together would be like, she now had an accurate picture. In fairness to him, his company was appreciated for the majority of the time, however it was moments like this that really tested her patience.

"You're annoying me." Mei scowled.

"I happen to be great company." Sasuke replied with sly grin.

"I won't disagree with you, but now is not the time for your company."

"I'd argue that it's the perfect time."

Mei narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you just purposely saying the exact opposite of what I am to be even more irritating?"

"No, I'm accidentally-" Sasuke almost squeaked as he narrowly avoided a small stream of lava that Mei sent at him. She could only watch as it ate away the floor of her office and spilled down to the level below.

"Fuck. Can you please do something about that?" She sighed. Sasuke nodded and did a back flip down the newly formed hole.

"Showoff." She muttered. Looking at the destruction she just caused, Mei couldn't help but want to do the same thing to all the paperwork, maybe her desk. Actually the whole office was giving her a headache. The Mizukage had just gotten the horrendous job of attempting to create money from nothing to narrow down some of Kirigakure's debts. Wasn't there a treasurer or fund's manager to do this kind of job? They probably killed themselves when they took one look at the numbers, she wouldn't hold it against them.

This seemingly impossible task was only made harder by Sasuke's company. Though unintentional, he could be rather distracting. Jumping back up the very same hole, he landed elegantly in front of her.

"Anyone hurt?" She asked.

"You killed two people, melted them down to the bone."

"What?!" Horrified by her actions, Mei stood up and went to run to her destruction, before Sasuke grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.

"I was joking."

She groaned before burying her head in his shoulder. "You're an ass."

"I know, sorry for vexing you."

"For what, my floor or making me think that I accidentally murdered two people."

"Either or, really." Mei chuckled before sighing again and moving back to her desk. "How goes the budgeting?"

"Poorly." She muttered.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out sweetheart."

Mei stopped and looked at him slowly. "I know you're doing it just to annoy me, but if you ever call me that again, I will shove that sword so far up your beautiful behind that you'll choke on it."

"I'm pretty sure I'd die before I choked on it." Sasuke mused, causing Mei to groan loudly and put her head on the desk. Sasuke moved behind her before he began to rub her shoulders. Hearing her almost purr under his ministrations brought a cocky smirk to the Uchiha's face.

"Do that for twenty more minutes and you're forgiven." She moaned.

"Maybe I should open up a massage shop to make this place some more money."

"Your first problem is that it's not called a 'massage shop'. Although that's not a bad idea."

"You sure you wouldn't be jealous? Me, touching the plethora of women from various lands who want to see if the last Uchiha can live up to his name."

"Sasuke, I would sell you as a sex slave tomorow if I thought it would help clear our debts, and if I thought you were worth that much."

"Glad you place such a high value on me." He grumbled.

Mei was very tempted to drift off while Sasuke relieved all tension from her body, however she had important work to do and procrastinating would not help her in the slightest. Taking one of his hands, she gave it a small kiss of gratitude before straightening up and resuming her work. Sasuke sighed before laying down and sprawling out on the leather couch Mei had in her office.

"Do you mind taking your feet off my couch."

Sasuke responded by taking off his sandals, causing Mei to shake her head. Time passed and other than the sound of Mei occasionally putting pen to paper, the room was silent. Sasuke yawned, closed his eyes and before long he had drifted off.

Looking at mission reports was starting to burn her eyes, so taking a break she decided to go over to Sasuke and wake him up. Opening his eyes, Sasuke sat up to give her some space. She sat beside him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Are you going to do anything aside from eat, sleep and mate?" Mei asked.

"You're making me sound like an animal."

"Even animals have to occasionally hunt for food."

"You wanted me to stay with you for two months, what do you want from me?" He asked.

"Anything! I enjoyed the first month, you were entertaining, full of life, about as full of life as you normally are, and you didn't get on my nerves anymore than usual. Now, all you do is laze about and wait for me to finish work. You need to... make a new friend or something."

Sasuke scowled at this. "That's... not going to happen."

"Alright, tell me then. What do you for fun?"

"I could think of a few things we could do for fun right now." Sasuke smirked, as his hand creeped its way up her leg.

"Stop it." Mei said irritably, slapping his hand away. "Other than me, what do you in your spare time?"

The moments of silence that followed made Mei's jaw drop. He couldn't? It was not possible? Even he had to have a hobby, something he did in his spare time.

"Don't give me that look."

"Give me an answer then."

"Y-You fucking know what I do. I do missions for Konoha and you, I wander around and try to avoid the people who want my head for my past actions, or my eyes for their gain." His defensive and flustered tone told Mei that she must have struck a nerve.

"We'll find you a hobby yet, Sasuke."

"I don't want one." He pouted.

"Stop sulking, it makes you look an extremely adorable child."

"Heh, that's the last thing I ever thought you'd try and compare me to."

"Travelling, that's a start." She said optimistically, ignoring his jab.

"Mei, just leave it." He sighed.

"No, I refuse to let you just wither and laze about. I need to work and you doing nothing is incredibly boring, not to mention making it difficult to maintain conversation with, which I might add, is difficult enough already. Now, tell me, what were some of your favourite pastimes as a child?"

"Training to kill Itachi."

"Wow, you are you just the worst. Why do I like you again?"

"My dashing good looks, intelligence, wry humour, power, status as last of my clan, exceptional sexual prowess?"

"You're egotistical, I'll give you that. Your dashing good looks make you look borderline feminine. You're nowhere near as smart as you think you are. Your humour is only notable because it occurs so rarely. I'll be damned if I need you for your power. Your clan was wiped out by two of it's own members... congrats. Well, I won't disagree with you on that last part."

Sasuke laughed before sighing. "I, enjoyflying." He mumbled.

"What?" Mei asked curiously, a smile breaking its way across her face.

"I like to fly occasionally."

"What do you mean by fly?" Mei raised an eyebrow.

"It's a long story, involving the Sage of the Six Paths and Naruto and I being descendants of these two guys, it's not that interesting. Bottom line is I can fly."

"Since when?!" Mei exclaimed. "Also, did you just mention the Sage of the Six Paths?"

"I did. Good ol' Hagoromo was nice enough to give me a lot of power that I have not used _too_ recklessly and this purple eye. Anyway, originally I could only fly while using my Susanoo-"

"You mean that great Uchiha power that I melted." Mei interrupted, causing Sasuke to tilt his head and grit his teeth.

"After seeing that Naruto could pretty much fly at will, I set my mind to it and basically practiced until I could fly without using my Susanoo."

"Really, and how did you go about that, flapping your arms really fast like they were wings?"

"What is wrong with you? You ask me what I enjoy, then just mock me when I tell you."

Mei sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that this nation is worryingly in debt and mocking you gives me no endless source of joy to distract me from that fact."

"How bad can it possibly be?" Sasuke asked incredulously. Mei leaned over and whispered the figure into his ear. "How do- How have you possibly acquired that much debt?"

"The Seven Swordsman were a blight on trade here and with uh... what his name, Tobi?"

"Obito."

"Your cousin?"

"I don't know, the family trees for clans are a mess."

"I hear the clans themselves aren't much better." That was either an incest or massacre joke, actually it could be a dig at a lot of aspects of the Uchiha clan, either way Sasuke said nothing. "Anyway, when Obito was manipulating the previous Mizukage, I fear he was using Kirigakure funds for the Akatsuki."

"I don't really know how much of that is true, I mean when I was with them, they seemed to be living in squalor."

"Are you telling me those Akatsuki cloaks are cheap to make?"

"They may as well be, they're quite itchy actually, I took mine off at the Five Kage Summit."

"You mean that time when I-"

Sasuke placed a hand on her mouth to prevent her from saying the same tired thing she always said when the subject of the Five Kage Summit came up.

"Now where was I, ah yes, I got the old man's power boost and this cool new eye."

"Is it cool though? It looks... cumbersome."

"Cumbersome?"

"Like, the way you have to cover it all the time."

"I cover it because looking through it takes some getting used to."

"Why, is what you see all purple or something?"

Sasuke laughed at this. "Not exactly, it's difficult to explain."

"Well, you're a verbose individual, I'm sure you'll have no problem."

"You don't like it, do you?" Sasuke suddenly realised.

"What gave it away?" Mei muttered.

It was ironic that she was afraid of his eye, when her eyes were his favourite part of her. Sasuke could find himself lost in those emerald eyes all day. At first, he was surprised that he made no comparison to his pink-haired teammate's green eyes. He realised, that those eyes have shed too many tears for all the wrong reasons over the years, leaving them lachrymose.

Mei's eyes are a richer green, far more mature and confident. There's something almost predatory about them that gets Sasuke's blood pumping everytime he looks at her. It's not often that he feels like he's being sized up and hunted, yet he feels that way the second that Mei makes eye contact with him, and he loved it.

"You shouldn't be afraid of it, it's like, looking at an x-ray except with chakra instead of bones?" Sasuke stroked his chin, trying to find a better way to describe it.

"Did you just confuse yourself?"

"It's very possible." He murmured

"Alright, so you got this ability to fly and you enjoy doing it. Speaking of which, why haven't you taken me flying if you enjoy it so much?"

"You're too heavy."

Mei raised an eyebrow. "Care to rephrase that?"

"I'm only slightly exaggerating, flying takes a lot out of you, and that's with one person. I wouldn't be able to last long while carrying you."

"That's not the only thing you don't last long at."

"What can I say, when I'm confronted with such beauty I get easily excited."

Mei laughed and stretched out on the couch, laying her head in his lap. "If you actually were that mediocre in bed, this relationship would've ended a long time ago."

"I doubt that."

"Oh?"

"You're at a point in your life where you were desperate enough to love any man, which I might add, I still find it ridiculous that you had such a difficult time to find a relationship. Anyway, I think I was a blessing in disguise because you could have done a LOT worse than me."

"I know. I know I say a lot of stuff to mock you Sasuke and to generally antagonise you, but I really do care about you. You've brightened my life significantly in the short time you've been in it."

"I've grown fond of you too." Sasuke replied, while casually twirling a strand of her hair in his finger.

Mei rolled her eyes. "You know, just when I start to feel bad for insulting you, I then realise that you deserve it."

"It's very possible." Sasuke repeated. "Look, you don't need to go into some speech about how you care about me and profess your love or any of that. I've heard enough of those speeches to last me a lifetime, plus I think you're above that. Subtlety is highly overrated."

"Noted. So tell me, what do you see when you're flying above us all?"

"People."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that, Sasuke."

"No not- What I mean is, when I'm travelling it's interesting to see the people of the various lands. Living their lives, interacting with each other, it's... nice. It makes me feel like there is something out there still worth fighting for, that people don't need something to fight or hate in order to stay together. No need for a revolution or more destruction, there'll be exceptions of course, such is the way of the ninja. Violence is our livelihood and all, but still, the world is doing alright under that blond idiot."

"You're not getting soft on me, are you Sasuke?"

"Maybe I am. Maybe these two months have mellowed me out and I've finally grown to terms with this land and my place in it."

"You could be a poet at this stage I reckon."

"I don't think so, I'd probably confuse myself again."

Mei laughed before closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth that Sasuke provided. They sat their in a comfortable silence, Sasuke entertaining himself by fidgeting with Mei's auburn hair. It always amused him how easily she could move without it getting tangled or caught on something, the length of it was truly astonishing.

"Shall we head to bed, my Mizukage?"

"It's three o'clock in the day, my Uchiha." She replied.

"I think we both know how much we'd enjoy crawling into bed right now."

"While that may very well be true Sasuke, some of us don't have the luxury of that. Now while you're enjoying finding your identity and place in the world, some of us have jobs to do." Mei said, opening her eyes and standing up. "Now, I'm afraid you're more of a liability than an asset when it comes to work. You're a distraction, and I mean that in the best possible way."

"You mean I'm better company than paper work? I'm flattered."

"I knew you'd see it my way." Mei said cheerily, as she kissed him on the cheek and led him to the door.

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked.

"I'm sure you'll think of something Sasuke, go write some poems about my beauty."

"You're too perfect to put into mere words."

Mei blew a kiss at him before closing the door on him. She enjoyed his compliments too much to call him a hypocrite on the whole "love speech" thing.

* * *

It was almost midnight when Mei received a knock on her door. Long after she had finished work, came home, had a nice, long bath, ate dinner and still there was no sign of Sasuke. Her greatest fear was that he had left without saying goodbye to her. He had about a week before he planned to travel the world he now apparently loved so much, Mei couldn't believe he would leave without the passionate night of love making they tended to have whenever he was about to depart. Her fears were quickly dispelled when she saw his rucksack of clothes laying untouched.

Opening the door, Mei was surprised to see an Anbu member standing there. It was Shin, the Anbu whose arm Sasuke broke two months ago. Now Mei's greatest fear was that Sasuke had gotten hurt or worse. First, because he was her boyfriend. She eventually just settled on calling him that, it was the easiest way to describe his association to her and she had gotten sick of trying to explain the intricate details of their relationship. "Boyfriend" kept things nice and simple. Second, and arguably more importantly, if there was someone or something out there strong enough to hurt Sasuke, then it did not bode well for everyone else.

"What is it?" Mei asked.

Shin gestured to a passed out Sasuke, Mei sniffed and discovered what that scent was. It seemed Sasuke had gone and got himself very drunk. Mei walked over and threw his unconscious form over her shoulder.

"Lady Mizukage, allow me to carry him inside for you."

"I wouldn't be much of a Mizukage if I couldn't carry a 20 year old bo- man. Go home Shin, take the night off."

The Anbu member nodded and vanished out of sight. Mei sighed and began carrying her lover up the stairs. Well, there went her use of the term "boy"friend. Sasuke stirred slightly as she carried him up the stairs. This was the first time she had seen Sasuke properly drunk. They had often enjoyed sitting outside on the balcony with a couple of cups of sake, but never anything to the extent that Sasuke must have gone to today.

Walking into their bedroom, Mei set him down gently on his side of the bed. Looking at the steady rise and fall of his chest, Mei realised that he was fast asleep. Rolling her eyes, she set about undressing him, a task which was generally more fun when he was awake. Placing the covers over him, Mei began to prepare herself for bed.

"You know, you're not helping our age gap here by having me tuck you in. Also, I don't think I'll be referring to you as my boyfriend anymore, while you may be at a suitable age, I believe I may be a bit old for it, what do you think?" Complete silence. "You know, I think I prefer you like this. It's a nice change of pace from our normal bedroom talks, you're much more agreeable like this."

Climbing into bed, Mei curled up next to Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him, she would enjoy being the big spoon for a change.

"Tell me then Sasuke, if not boyfriend, then do what do I call you. Husband? Hell, I'd even settle on fiancé." Mei sighed. This was a conversation that they were going to have to have eventually. Not this time, she didn't want it constantly weighing on his mind while he was gone. When he came back though, she would bring the matter up. These past two months had shown her that he was everything she could have wanted, while she may mock him for one reason or another, there wasn't a lot else she could ask for in a man.

Would he feel the same about her though? Mentally, she scolded herself. Questions for another time, she was determined to enjoy her last week with him before the dynamics in their relationship, shifted dramatically. Leaning over, she placed a goodnight kiss on his forehead and soon she too had fallen asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Mei for the first time in a while felt fully at ease. Perhaps it was the fact that Sasuke had returned to her and was currently also content holding her, or perhaps it was the sake they consumed in between their heavy make out sessions. Sitting on Sasuke's lap, his hand on the small of her back, staring into the beyond of the city of Kirigakure was oddly relaxing.

Sasuke himself was also completely at peace, with Mei's arms wrapped around his neck and constant sake in his cup. It was nice to rest his eye and muscles, he was looking forward to some time off with Mei. It did briefly give him pause and reflect on how far the sociopathic, lone avenger and the marriage-obsessed nymphomaniac had come together. They had begun to learn each other's little habits and the instant that he returned, they could absorb all the relative information from their time apart, with a single glance.

For example, Mei could now tell which areas Sasuke had travelled to, how many opponents he had faced, his mood, and whether he was excited to be back based off one look at his outfit and face. Well, the last one was always pretty much guaranteed to be a certainty.

In turn, Sasuke would estimate how Kirigakure was doing and how much she missed him. He... may have been slightly less perceptive than her and the irony was not lost on him, there were certain things even _his_ eyes couldn't notice. Though he did have his moments:

If he had told her a date when he would return and she was at the gate to greet him, it was apparent that she was looking forward to seeing him. Or if he spontaneously surprised her by infiltrating her office and she didn't hit him for scaring her, she was generally happy to see him. Then again, she tended to hit him even if she wasn't happy to see him, he hoped that was because she was just easily scared...

A gust of cold wind caused Mei to squeeze Sasuke tighter for any extra warmth he could provide. Though the affection was appreciated, Sasuke detected a very small point of tension in Mei's lower back. He reached over and poured another cup of sake for both of them, irritated to find that the bottle was empty.

"You're not going to become an alcoholic on me, are you? If I'm being honest with you, it's not a very desirable trait."

"Is that what has you stressed?" Sasuke asked.

"Stressed? From all reports of your last drinking endeavour, you're a bit of a lightweight. So I don't think I have to worry too much about you becoming dependant on alcohol." She teased.

"Rumours can be so hurtful."

Mei laughed awkwardly at this. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in response, in nearly all of their interactions Mei had exuded nothing but pure confidence to him, it was one of her most attractive traits to him.

To tell the truth, Mei was feeling uncomfortable, well perhaps anxious was a more accurate word. She had decided that her time with her sexy boy toy had been fun, but Sasuke was getting, slowly but surely, older and here they were in the same familiar position. While she had enjoyed the way he made her feel young and beautiful again, the way those predatory eyes of his trailed the length of her body before he ravished her, she couldn't help that same familiar feeling she had a year ago. As fun as those feelings had been, she needed a man who wanted to make love as opposed to have mindless sex all the time, not that there was anything wrong with the latter now and again.

"So if not my non-existent alcoholism, what is it that's bothering you?"

"Have you ever have any dreams Sasuke?"

Sasuke took the time to ponder his words while mentally grimacing, this could only end horribly. He could already feel the weight of the impending conversation on his shoulders and with the sake in him, he was already at a disadvantage. This wasn't fair! He was just home and completely at ease, he just wanted to relax with her in his arms. Was that too much to ask?

"Dreams were something I always felt were unobtainable, just out of reach. I feel that if you use the term "dream", you're referring to the impossible, an idea that was simply unachievable in your life."

"What?" Mei laughed, genuinely this time. "How did you turn such a simple question into such a complicated answer?"

"What I mean is, dreams, in my eyes, can only be experienced when you are in just that, a dream. That is when you aren't bound by the physical restraints of reality and thus, have the power to experience it."

"I... think I see what you're saying. That doesn't answer whether you have any or not, though."

His face and tone softened. "Of course I do, every night I dream that the horrific acts committed by my brother weren't real and that I'll wake up and everything will go back to the way it was fifteen years ago."

Mei placed a tender, comforting kiss onto his forehead as he slowly stroked her back. It genuinely did warm her heart that he now felt comfortable enough to share these things with her, as opposed to shutting the conversation down. She wasn't opposed to him being stoic at all, it was just refreshing to have him express emotion instead of always bottling his feelings up.

"So, you don't have any current dreams?"

"Like I said, the only time I experience my dreams is when I am asleep, it's the one moment when I can actually see _them_ again. A lucid reverie is transformed into a reality, that's the sensation I get anyway."

"With that line of speech, you're starting to sound like Madara."

"Hardly, I'm not foolish enough to go live in some fantasy world. It's just a nice change of pace to not wake up in a cold sweat from a horrific nightmare."

"You haven't had that many nightmares recently?" Mei asked curiously.

"No, and it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge your role in that." He admitted.

Mei smiled and twirled a strand of his hair. "What do you remember, or dream, about them?"

Sasuke gave a small smile, happy that she had not noticed how subtly he had changed her definition of "dream", and by subtle he meant speak asinine nonsense until she engaged in his new topic.

He had no doubt that with that initial question, she fully intended him to lay out any future "goals", "aspirations" or "ambitions" he had, as opposed to his literal dreams, but he was simply in too good a mood to engage with the line of conversation that would inevitably follow. So instead, he twisted the definition of the specific word she used for his benefit. And who said there was no such thing as a functional alcoholic?

"The Uchiha? We had our own district in Konoha, my father was in charge of the clan and the Konoha Military Police Force."

"What was he like?" Mei asked.

"Harsh." He said simply.

An uncomfortable silence lay in the cool air for a few moments, as Sasuke looked dead ahead with an emotionless face, and refused to say anything further. That one word said a lot more than it probably ought to, Mei decided to change tact and move on to his other parent.

"What about your mother?" Mei was relieved to see a small smile tug at Sasuke's lips as he began to recollect the memories of the one who gave him life.

"Gentle and... warm. She always did her best to cheer up Itachi and my father, even when things got tense between the family. She tried to encourage me at every chance she could, told me my father often talked about me when they were alone. I don't know how much I believed her, but I appreciated her efforts nonetheless."

"Do you think mama Uchiha would approve of her son being with a woman such as myself?"

"Would my mother approve of me being in a relationship with a Mizukage? I think she'd say I was doing well for myself." Sasuke smirked.

"That just leaves us with the sibling rivalry."

"Hardly a rivalry." Sasuke scoffed. "Even when he was dead, Itachi was working hard to protect Konoha. We stopped the Reanimation Jutsu, did you know that?"

"Oh, you've only mentioned it about ten or so times." Mei rolled her eyes.

"Hn. I guess I feel I like I'm the only one left to defend Itachi's legacy, which is ironic, given that I've spent the majority of my life trying to escape his shadow."

"He does tend to cast a long one, doesn't he?" Mei grinned, causing Sasuke to narrow his eyes at her. "Don't worry Sasuke, I'm more than happy with the Uchiha I've got."

"Well, I'd like to say I was worried about your running away with another, but..."

Mei laughed and leaned down, locking her lips to his. She made a small noise as he stood up and carried her inside as the sun was coming down and it would inevitably become quite cool soon. He elegantly placed her on their bed and went to open a second bottle of sake.

"You may want to hold back on the alcohol if you intend to copulate tonight. The last time you got tipsy, you passed out and I had to tuck you in. It was very dignified." Mei said sarcastically.

Sasuke turned to look at her splayed out form and gave her that animalistic look that sent a jolt of excitement through her veins.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Sasuke grinned.

He stalked towards her, drinks already forgotten. He unzipped his jacket as Mei rose to her knees on the bed, so she was face to face with him. She helped him pull his shirt over his head and ran her eyes over the muscle hidden underneath.

"I see you're still taking good care of your body." Mei said coyly.

"I'm so glad you've noticed."

Mei brought his face to hers, and began planting kisses before nibbling his lower lip. Running her hands across Sasuke's torso, Mei moved to shower his chest in kisses.

Sasuke closed his eyes and gave a low chuckle as her kisses trailed lower. "I can't even begin to describe how much I missed you, plus I always thought actions spoke louder than words." Sasuke said before tilting his head back.

* * *

After their little reunion session, Sasuke's curiosity was raised when he contemplated on their conversation earlier. Mei was so eager to learn about his family, yet he could hardly remember her mentioning anything about her own. Now while he could very easily be blamed for this by showing a lack of interest, he felt that she shared in some of the responsibility of not revealing anything about her family. What if it was a sensitive topic for her? As far as Sasuke was concerned, she should thank him for not bringing it up.

While his conscience may have been partially cleared, his curiosity was still unappeased. Turning over to her resting form, Sasuke placed an arm around her and interlocked their fingers.

"You now know a lot about my family, but I don't think I've ever heard you talk about yours once."

Mei turned around and shifted into his arms. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, what were your parents like?"

"I never met my father, and my mother never spoke of him. She raised me on her own, did her best to encourage me when I enrolled in the academy. She always tried to keep a cheerful disposition but there were times that I could tell that she was desperately lonely. It was difficult to see her like that, it's probably part of the reason why I am the way I am now, just determined to not end up alone. Even when I was in Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi, I dreamed I was at my wedding."

"It sounds like your mother did everything to support you, even on her own." Sasuke said, stroking her arm.

"I know that, I'm not trying to make it sound like I don't want to end up like her. It's not a nice thing to see you hero heartbroken, my mother was the strongest person I've ever met and if loneliness could do that to her, well it's something I feel as though I should avoid. Which brings me all the way back to my original question..."

"Oh, fuck me." Sasuke closed his eyes and grimaced.

"I just did, which means you should be in a fantastic mood and give me an honest answer."

"And would the question be, my dear?" Sasuke smirked.

Mei narrowed her eyes at him, Sasuke's smile slowly dissipated and his face took on a sober look.

"Do you really want to do this now?" He asked, staring up at the ceiling.

"I can think of no better time or place, we seem to do a lot of our serious conversations in bed, post-coitus."

Sasuke laughed before sitting up and taking her hands in his.

"Alright then. Look, I care for you, I really do. The past eighteen months have been a time of self-discovery, finding myself without all the hatred, violence and nightmares. Like I said, you have been the most integral part in that, helping me become a somewhat functional member of society."

"That's debatable."

"You're not wrong, but you tolerate me, so that's good enough." He smiled.

"You have a funny meaning of the word _tolerate,_ but do continue."

Sasuke paused. "I would have absolutely no problem spending the rest of my life with you but with that comes one guarantee, and you already know what it is. I cannot, will not, leave this earth and let the Uchiha clan fade into extinction. If this is going to work, you have to be able to bear my children."

"Have I ever given you any impression that I wouldn't want children?" Mei asked, slightly puzzled.

"It's not- can we please talk about this tomorrow?"

"No, come on. Just tell me what the problem is and I'll do my best to help, I know how important this is to you." Mei stroked his cheek in an attempt to soothe him.

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I have no doubt you'd be a great mother, the type I would be proud to have raising my children. I just need to know if you're capable for the _physical_ aspects."

Mei raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke, I know children can be annoying little creatures who only know how to create messes, and I know our children will be particularly strong, but I'm sure I can handle it."

Sasuke bit his lip and avoided making eye contact. "Not... those physical aspects. I'm referring to what comes before any of that."

Mei's eyes widened. "Are you-"

"Look, I have never ever had a problem with your age, not once. You're more beautiful than any woman I can think, your maturity and confidence are your most attractive features to me, after those alluring emerald eyes. Our relationship had its foundation built on sex, that's just a fact. It grew to be so much more than that over time but that's where it started off, we both find each other irresistible and that takes its form in us fornicating, a lot. We've been using precautions when it comes to reproduction the majority of the time, but given how often we engage in it, there should have been more than enough times where you should already be expecting."

"What the fuck are you trying to say, Sasuke?" Mei demanded, stepping out of bed in order to avoid looking at him.

"Mei." Sasuke tried to calm her.

"You're 20, I'm 32, what the fuck gives you the impression that I won't be able to conceive a child!"

"I'm just being honest with you, you asked." Sasuke found his own voice rising. This was exactly what he didn't want to happen, this cursed line of conversation was only going to end in tears.

"If it came to that, I could- I could stay with you and have children with another woman, you could meet them beforehand-" Sasuke tried to suggest.

"Do you even hear yourself?!" Mei asked incredulously. "You think I'd let you whore your Uchiha genes out with another and just happily remain your diligent wife?"

"Well at least I'm trying to come up with some ideas here, which is more than I can say for you!" Sasuke shouted. "You weighed your options with me, and now you're acting like I'm an asshole for doing the same, hypocrite. Stand in the ashes of an entire clan, then get back to me. I have one purpose left in life and that is to repopulate the Uchiha clan and nothing is going to stop that, not even you!"

Sasuke took a breath and tried to calm down. He looked over to Mei, who had her back turned to him.

"Get out, Sasuke." Mei told him, with a resigned tone.

"Mei-" Sasuke started.

"Just go."

She turned to him, and his heart sank. There were no tears, no anger, no shouting, no emotion at all, just bitter acceptance. This was nothing new to her, he realised, she just brushed it off, brushed him off as if they had only begun dating yesterday. This was not how he expected it to go, not how he wanted it to go. He wanted her angry, attacking and fighting him, he wanted some sort of reaction from her, so as to feel somewhat less guilty.

"This isn't over, not yet. We haven't even properly discussed it yet, or actively tried to have children. I was just enjoying the first, carefree few months of a new relationship, me leaving now won't solve anything. We've both invested too much time in this to walk away now." Sasuke said softly.

He reached to touch her and was more shocked than hurt when she flinched. He looked at her quizzically, not even trying to conceal his hurt. Sasuke numbly gathered his clothes and quickly got dressed. Grabbing his newly reformed Kusanagi, he left without saying another word.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto Uzumaki had acquired quite a notable reputation for his silver tongue. Ironic, because it was probably the last thing anyone would generally expect to associate with the blond, yet he had quite a proven track record. He had managed to talk down the likes of Zabuza, Gaara, Nagato, Obito, even his own Bijuu, though Kurama would vehemently deny this.

His method was generally to keep it simple, it also tended to help if he had beaten the hell out of his opponent before trying to convince them of anything, but he digressed.

However out of all of his difficult speeches, none were more frightening to him than his current one. After a lengthy journey, Naruto had finally made it to Kirigakure. He could see how his brooding best friend had spent the last year and a half here, tucked away in several mountains gave the village a certain elusiveness which was only accentuated by the thick mist that wrapped around the buildings.

Naruto felt a certain chill run down his spine as he ambled through the gates, like the fog was going to choke the oxygen out of his lungs. It was came close to perturbing his conventional warm and calm nature. Blood had been spilled here, he could smell it linger in the air. The various conflicts that the village had been in over the years still left their mark on the land, and its citizens.

Naruto did not miss the side-eyed looks and people muttering in his general direction as he strolled up to the Mizukage's building. His ego secretly relished in his newly gained "celebrity" status. When he thought about how cold and lonely his childhood had been and compared it to his current standing in the world, he probably would have fit in well in Kirigakure back then.

Still, that was a far departure from who he was now. Honestly, he kind of wanted to bring out his golden power and lift the fog that seemed to have a stranglehold on the village, introduce a bit of light and heat into the people's lives here. Though the way that a few of the younger Shinobi were smiling and pointing at him, it seemed his presence may be good enough to do the former.

Finally making it to the large, cylindrical building that was the Mizukage's office, Naruto passed some Anbu that looked like meaner, more capable versions of their Konoha counterparts and was escorted in to meet the leader of the village.

"Hokage-in-training/saviour of the world, how are you Naruto?" Mei smiled while standing to greet him, motioning for him to take a seat opposing her desk.

"I'm still learning the ropes on this whole "Kage" thing. I didn't realise that the council and Elders held quite as much influence as they did. Kind of hard to go from getting praise from the Sage of the Six Paths to being talked down to by old men whose ideology is so outdated and archaic, I'm surprised they're still alive."

"The gray world of bureaucracy is enough to snuff the flames of enthusiasm from just about anyone. What about your Daimyo? I remember when I was tasked with guarding him during the war, he didn't seem that bad."

"I don't intend to let that fire die, not after all I sacrificed. The Daimyo is very easily swayed, which works well for me. I intend to clear out the majority of the council when I take up the mantle, get some fresh blood into the body."

"You seem to have increased your vocabulary anyway."

"A side effect of all the reading I'm being forced to do." Naruto groaned.

"Kakashi is making you read?" Mei asked, amused.

"Yeah, apparently there is more to running a village than I initially thought." He chuckled.

"So, you are here to improve your diplomacy skills, is that it?"

Naruto considered her for a moment before responding. He knew her to be a kind hearted person with a somewhat, lukewarm, exterior. She gave him the sense that she made judgements within thirty seconds of meeting someone, if you made a poor impression, you would be spending the rest of your interactions with her, paying for it. Naruto could only smile as he tried to imagine what blaze of glory Sasuke had entered with at the Five Kage Summit, it was probably as dynamic an entrance as one could make. Like a wild animal tearing apart its prey, he could see how Mei would be captivated with the Uchiha.

It was the flip side that interested Naruto. Sasuke's relationship with the Mizukage was no small secret, and by no small secret, he meant it was all people would ask him about for a week straight when the news broke. Sakura and Kakashi had gotten the same bombardment of questions that he had, which was ironic because Sasuke and Sakura's relationship was, at that point, tepid. Only in recent months, and with a lot of him pestering them both, had they begun to patch things up.

At the time though, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi had given the same answer to any inquisitive gossipmonger: They honestly didn't know. When Sasuke finally returned to Konoha, he had kept any details of his personal life under wraps, much to Naruto's dismay. He didn't want to know every minute detail, however a simple: _"I am dating the Mizukage."_ wouldn't have gone amiss.

With scant details, it aggravated Naruto a little when Sasuke came home a month ago and started unloading his problems on him. He was glad that Sasuke didn't come to him looking for solutions or relationship advice though, that wouldn't have been the Uchiha's style at all. Instead, he stopped himself when he saw Naruto raise an eyebrow, then asked him to deliver one message to Mei.

Seeing as how he had been cooped up in Konoha for so long, Naruto practically jumped at the opportunity to travel anywhere. He was also quite curious to see if Mei would be anymore forthcoming with information about them. Though Sasuke was his best friend, he was also still somewhat of an enigma to him and any morsels that would reveal more about him, was too good of a chance to pass up.

"Not exactly, I'm here about our _mutual friend_." Naruto narrowed his eyes, as he saw Mei's breath slow and shoulders tense for just a split second.

"He sent you as an envoy to deliver his message? That's disappointing, even for him."

"He disappoints you often?" Naruto asked. This question caught Mei off guard, she hadn't seen Naruto a whole lot since after the war, she suspected Sasuke had something to do with that, but he had a slightly different air about him since then. "Sorry, I'm trying not be nosy but I know just as much as everybody else and when people come looking to me for answers, they're surprised that I don't know either. Call it a morbid curiosity."

The air was still warm about him, he had a calm aura, but there was a certain... maturity about him now. Like he contemplated his thoughts more, as opposed to shouting out the first thing that popped into his head. While she could respect it, it almost saddened her, like he had lost his childlike innocence. It was his brash personality that held a certain amount of his charisma, he broke things down to their simplest level and made you agree with him. She was half joking when she said bureaucracy had taken a toll on him, but it seems she was more on the money than she actually realised.

"You're becoming more Sage like, Naruto, you know that?"

"Well technically I already am..." He said while scratching his nose.

"I mean your mannerisms, your vocabulary, it's all... aged."

"Had to grow up sometime." Naruto replied.

"Yes, but I can't help but feel as if you've lost something."

"It's funny, you're not the first person to mention that to me, even Sasuke has said it. You don't need to take my lack of boisterous actions as me being unhappy, it's just with the lack of major conflicts, being hunted by Akatsuki, or hunting Sasuke, I have time to think, reflect, calm down and relax. I think that's the reason for my mellow attitude. As for my vocabulary, it's like I said, I think that's because of all the _fucking_ books I'm being forced to read by Kakashi. I don't exactly see how me speaking more eloquently, helps me become a better Hokage, but I guess that just means I'm not ready yet." He laughed, and Mei caught a glimpse of his exuberant personality return and couldn't help but smile also.

"It seems we were right to place our trust in you after all."

"You had doubts?"

"Your devotion to Sasuke did raise some concerns."

"Speaking of which," Naruto sat up, "you've listened to me talk all about myself, but now I really want some answers for the reason I came here. The bastard is still as tight-lipped as ever, so I'm relying on you to fill me in."

"On Sasuke and I?"

"He sent me here with a message, but I want to know what he did to anger you, and why it didn't happen sooner."

Mei scoffed at this. "What did he tell you?"

"He told me you had a little spat two months ago-"

" _Little spat_? Did the little shit happen to mention exactly what he said?" Mei asked furiously.

"Uh, no."

"He decided to make a little remark about my abilities to bear children, he doesn't think I'm capable."

"What? That doesn't sound like Sasuke, I'm sure he would trust no one else _but_ you to raise his kids." Naruto said as he scratched his chin.

"No, not-" Mei bit her lip, it pained her to even repeat what Sasuke had implied. "He was... concerned that I, literally, wouldn't be able to have children."

Naruto nodded slowly as it dawned on him what she was getting at. He was however slightly puzzled, Sasuke's worries did seem unwarranted to him.

"Concerned about you giving birth, but aren't you at the perfect age? You're what, 40?"

From all the years of Sakura hitting him, Naruto had gained a sort of, sixth sense, that could tell when a woman was about to strike him. He was getting that feeling now.

"It's not that I don't understand where he's coming from, it's just that it took him so long to say it. If he was that troubled with my fertility, you would think that he would voice his anxiety sooner." Mei sighed.

"He probably didn't want to burden you with that pressure, plus he's not the best at communicating. From what I can gather he actually seemed comfortable being with you, and knew this would upset you."

"I would be less upset if he had told me his position from the beginning."

"I thought it would have been implied." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I know how much reviving his clan means to him, as time passed I looked forward to it, I still do. But if he was concerned if I was up to it, he should have laid that out flat from the beginning."

"Well Sasuke has always been the type to keep things close to his chest."

"That was true enough in the initial months, when he was even around that is. But the more time we spent together, the more he opened up."

"Really?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"I mean, as much as Sasuke Uchiha is emotionally capable of opening up. Men tend to open up around women more, I find. I assume, I'm basing that on the one man who has stuck around with long enough me. Maybe you can attest to that, do you spill your guts to your paramour?"

"No."

"Really, no romance for the most popular ninja in the world right now?" Mei teased.

"No, it's not on my to-do list for the moment. Anyway I'm impressed, I've known Sasuke for how many years? And I can still hardly get five words out of the guy, I'm still convinced that he mainly communicates by grunting."

"I bet his cheerful personality makes you glad of all you sacrificed for him."

"It did take a lot," Naruto admitted, "but I think it was more than worth it, no? He's a lot better than he was, plus I'd rather have him alive and on my side, than dead and useless."

"If you say so, though I can't imagine him being _that_ worse than he is now."

"Well he doesn't have his "episodes" anymore."

"His episodes?" Mei chuckled.

"You saw one of them, Sasuke has, had, this... darkness about him. It made him lose all sense of empathy and definitely robbed him of his senses. I remember he had no problems in killing one of his teammates, just to get to Danzo. Then there was our final battle, when he proclaimed his 'revolution'. He looked insane, the look in his eyes was horrific, I knew words alone weren't going to bring him back. Honestly, when he came to me and started babbling about how you and him had a fight, a part of me was worried that he had another one of his episodes and done something truly terrible."

"He did do something terrible."

"Yes, I suppose he did." Naruto conceded.

"You don't have to worry about him losing it again, Naruto. Trust me, the way he goes on sometimes, I'm surprised it's the same Sasuke. He's not any danger to any innocents anymore. Honestly, you should be more concerned about me hurting him when, or if, he ever shows up again."

"I wouldn't worry, he'll be back and I have no doubts that you'll give him exactly what he has coming to him." Naruto laughed.

"He has a beating coming his way, and I'll be expecting an apology followed by a lot of grovelling."

"From Sasuke? You'll get the apology, probably, but I can't see him grovelling to _anyone_."

"We'll see."

"I suppose we will, which brings me to the purpose of my visit here."

Naruto stood up and produced an envelope from his pocket. Inspecting it and finding the official mark of the Hokage on it, Mei raised an eyebrow, however Naruto said nothing. Mei opened the envelope and pulled out the crisp sheet of paper held within, she almost felt nauseous as soon as she saw all the numbers on the page.

"That's what you're here for? You came under the pretence of being concerned about Sasuke and I, but you're really here to collect a debt?" Mei asked, outraged.

"Did you even read what it said?"

Mei scanned through the document and when she got halfway through, her eyes widened. "Is this a joke, because I swear-"

"It's not a joke." Naruto laughed.

"How did he- He doesn't have-"

"Keep reading."

Mei continued to peruse the certificate, and was stunned silent for several seconds once she had finished. "Is this even allowed?"

"Kakashi had no problem with it, the council had no problem with it, mostly, and Sasuke was fairly insistent, so yeah. It seems he's fairly determined to make it up to you." Naruto smiled.

"It seems so." Mei murmured.

"Well, I'm going to head out. I'm determined to make use of the limited amount of freedom I've been granted."

"Are you sure I can't offer you some accommodation for the night?" Mei asked, surprised.

"Nah, I plan to visit Uzushiogakure before I return home, I still haven't visited the place where my clan came from, or what's left of it."

"That's more than a days travel from here." Mei stated, to which Naruto only grinned. She could feel his aura and the temperature of the room begin to heat.

"Give my regards to the bastard when he shows back up, and tell him we're now even."

"I will, it was good to see you Naruto."

"Likewise, Lady Mizukage." Naruto bowed as he bid her farewell, before vanishing out of the room.

Mei turned to look out the window and could just barely make out a golden flicker, zipping through the village and fading beyond the horizon. Once again, looking at the letter, Mei closed her eyes and slumped back in her chair.

* * *

Waking up in the exact same position a few hours later, Mei looked up at the night sky. The full moon glimmered along with a selection of stars, she took in the sight before getting up and making her way to her bed.

It always struck her how spacious it was whenever Sasuke was absent. She was still reeling from the letter that Naruto had delivered, and what Sasuke had done for her and the village.

The letter informed her that Kirigakure's deficit and any outstanding debts to Konoha, had been balanced, courtesy of a generous donation by Sasuke Uchiha. After the Uchiha massacre, the Third Hokage had apparently collected all the assets and resources of the clan, to set up as a trust fund for Sasuke when he came of age. Between the businesses and locations not even in Konoha, it had been an exorbitant amount of money.

When Sasuke had more or less seceded from Konoha, and Tsunade took the position of Hokage, she had not been aware of this fund and therefore it remained untouched. Not even Danzo knew about it, which was surprising given the relationship with the Third Hokage. So how Sasuke managed to access his clan's vast, hidden wealth, was a mystery to everyone.

Mei curled up in bed, her mind should have been eased by this news, however she could only think of Sasuke. Where was he now? When was he coming back? What state was his head at? It wasn't his money that she was interested in, far from it. It saddened her to think that that was the only way he could think to express his apology. Her thoughts would not stop racing.

Still, Mei could do nothing except wait, and silently thank him, for all that he had done. Looking out her balcony at the large moon, she prayed for Sasuke to return safely to her.

* * *

Somewhere in a distant land, a wandering Uchiha looked up at the same moon and stars from a perch in the tree that he had decided to make his shelter that night. He had spent all of his time away from Kirigakure doing S Rank missions, when he wasn't travelling leisurely, anything less was a waste of his time and energy. He liked the challenge of it, as much challenge as could be expected for someone like him.

By now Naruto would surely have been to Kirigakure and given Mei his letter. Hopefully that would ease the pain that his words had inflicted on her all those months ago. He had no real use for that money anyway, the wages that he was getting for completing all these S Rank missions were more than enough to provide himself with a comfortable lifestyle. Not that he had any intention of living said luxurious lifestyle anytime soon.

When he had revived the Four Hokages during the war, The Third pulled him aside to tell him about the location of his family's hidden fortune. Sasuke waited until he had been pardoned of all his previous crimes to go and investigate. It turned out that Sarutobi was definitely cut from a different cloth than Danzo, because he had kept his word. The location contained enough money and valuables to support the next ten generations of Uchiha.

There it was again however, _the next generation of Uchiha_. He wasn't certain that he would be fully content unless his children were conceived and raised by Mei Terumi, if they weren't he would be plagued with ideas, hypotheticals or "what could have been", not to mention a lot of guilt.

Yet, he had been with her a long enough time and had been purposely reckless enough with his contraception methods, that there should have been some results. Still, perhaps that was where he had went wrong. Relying only on his own judgement and not trusting her enough, was why he was out here in the cold and his best company for the night was his left hand.

Now that she knew his concerns, he owed her the courtesy of at least trying to make this work. If worst came to worst... he already knew he had done her one kindness, and that she would be gracious and kind enough to let him go.

The idea frankly depressed him.

He wasn't ready to return and face her, not yet. He needed a few more weeks to collect himself and prepare what he was going to say to her. Taking one last glance up at the moon, Sasuke braced himself for another night of uncomfortable sleep, and unsatisfying self-pleasure.


	7. Chapter 7

While any form of distraction or break from the monotony of being Mizukage would have been greatly appreciated by Mei, even she hadn't expected this. With Kirigakure's debts to Konoha no longer a problem and a distinct lack of company to keep her entertained in the way only Sasuke could, Mei had set about the process of training Chojuro into the position of Mizukage.

Though some of his shyness remained, Mei was both proud and delighted to see that the determination and confidence he had acquired during the war were still present. It was these qualities and the way he could silently absorb information like a sponge, that made him a natural selection for her replacement. She had no doubt that his confidence in himself would grow and eventually lead to him becoming a very calm and level-headed Kage.

While training her apprentice proved entertaining for a time, he didn't exactly provide the best conversational material. She didn't doubt that Sasuke would be anymore talkative, perhaps it had more to do with the fact that her heart ached for him which was why she longed to hear his voice.

While another two weeks had passed since Naruto came to visit, there had still been no word from Sasuke, or sign that he would be returning soon. There was always that creeping fear that he had left for good, just another man stepping out of her life.

Mei shook her head, she was tired of feeling sorry for herself. If Sasuke didn't have the courage to come and face her to either apologise, or tell her that he had no further interest in continuing the relationship, then he wasn't half the man she thought he was. She wasn't going to waste her time and energy in pursuing him. However, with little to occupy her free time, she found her mind wandering back to the lone Uchiha.

As she was about to head home for the night, Nise, one of her best Anbu came marching in.

"Lady Mizukage, we've just received word that Sasuke Uchiha has been ambushed as he was leaving the Land of Fire, apparently he was gravely wounded." Nise informed her with an urgent tone.

"Sasuke, wounded?" Mei asked sceptically.

"Yes ma'am, apparently he has been infected with some sort of lethal poison. Konoha Anbu found him and took him back to their village, I thought you would want to know and leave immediately."

Again, not exactly the distraction she had in mind, but the fact that Sasuke had actually been injured was definitely cause for concern.

"Very well, go get Chojuro and Shin, we-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Nise's partner practically teleported beside her. She liked these two, efficiency could be such an exotic commodity in Kirigakure, that Mei made sure it was properly rewarded.

"Chojuro has been made aware of the situation and is on his way." Shin coolly declared.

"Nice job, you two. Allow me to gather some supplies while Chojuro makes his way over here."

The two Anbu nodded silently and took positions either side of the door. When Mei stepped out again, a panicking and out of breath Chojuro came rushing in. Mei was about to greet him before he started babbling a load of incoherent nonsense. Mei held up a hand and he stopped speaking immediately.

"Now, Chojuro we've prepared for this, we all knew that one day you would replace me."

"But Lady Mizukage, I wasn't prepared to take charge so soon."

"Sure you were, how else are you going to practice? Think of it like some first hand experience."

"But-"

"No more 'buts'." Mei said sternly. "There isn't a whole lot left to do today as I was just headed home, and honestly I can't see that changing for the rest of the week. Just work the documents I told you to and if there is a decision that has to be made, send a messenger bird to Konoha. I don't know how long I'll be gone, so just use your best judgement for the most part, I trust you."

Mei couldn't help but notice how similar Chojuro looked to a puppy who knew it's master was about to leave it all alone, it was rather adorable. Still, he took a deep breath, straightened up and saluted her.

"I won't let you down Lady Mizukage!"

"That's the spirit. Oh, and if the Seven Swordsmen have somehow managed to reform and attack the village, I have no doubt you'll be able to defend the people."

"Wait, what?" Whatever confidence Chojuro had briefly gained immediately collapsed and he went deathly pale.

"Bye, Chojuro." Mei waved to him as she ran off, her two Anbu in tow.

* * *

It felt great to stretch her legs again, dashing through the trees, even the rain was refreshing to her. Mei had not had a lot of chances to leave the village after the war, in that way she was always envious of Sasuke. She had been in such a rush to leave that she still hadn't fully processed what she heard, Sasuke, lethal poison. The fact that something managed to bring him down and knock him out, was definitely something to give her pause.

Mei was so engrossed in her thoughts, that she didn't notice the swishing sound of a kunai headed her way. If only for the quick reaction of Shin who caught her and managed to bring her out of harm's way, however not before one of the kunai buried itself in his thigh. Grunting as they hit the ground, Nise was immediately at their side and inspected Mei for any visible injuries.

They had just crossed the border into the Land of Fire, she hadn't travelled this path in a long time. The geography of the area was a complete mystery to her. Mei had favoured speed over safety for this trip, not thinking anything of the dangers that may face them.

Once Nise was satisfied that the Mizukage was fine, she went over to check her partner. Mei scanned the treeline for any sign of the incoming threat, she didn't have to wait long, as four ninja landed opposite them with a heavy thud.

Mei looked back at her Anbu, Shin's blood was mixing with the rainwater on ground. He used the tree to steady himself and gave out a growl of pain, as Nise pulled out the kunai and immediately applied some bandage wrap.

"Now this is a surprise, if I do say so myself," One of the ninja drawled, "Mei Terumi, the great Mizukage of Kirigakure."

"I'm glad my reputation and beauty precedes me, and you fine gentlemen would be?"

"Well that is the interesting part, actually now that I think about it, the surprise is waning. In fact, it makes sense that you would be passing by here."

"Listen I'm kind of in a rush here, so if you could skip the preamble and tell me why the hell you just attacked us, I would appreciate it. In fact, if you're very quick, I might let one of you live, you can decide amongst yourselves who gets the honor."

"Oh, that's the least threatening you stand to do to us."

"Wasting my time..." Mei said irritably.

"You see, the reason we know why you're on the way to Konoha is to visit dear old Sasuke. There's a group of us who, well really find it hard to get over some of the... just inexcusable acts he committed in the past. We've hunted him and hunted him, but he's just constantly on the move and even when we do catch up, he just brings out that purple eye and that's the end of that."

Mei cocked her head and gave them a fiendish grin. "That offer about letting one of you live, that's off the table now."

"You're angry, I get that but let me explain. Sasuke comes from a cursed clan, I mean look at the history there: Madara, Obito, hell his own brother did everyone a favour by massacring the rest of them. So no matter how much people think he has changed, we both know better. That's where you come in, whore. You see, the idea of that monster creating more Uchiha spawn, really makes our skin crawl. The last thing we need, is anymore of them set upon the world."

"Ooh, you've really touched a nerve that one. That's really been a point of contention with me for the past few months and I haven't had much of an outlet. So after I butcher your men, I'm going to kill you last. Tell me, which would you prefer, death by lava or death by asphyxiation? I assure you they're both agonising."

"Oh we'll get to the butchery, just let me finish my story. So after about a year of no success killing the Uchiha in open battle, we figured we'd try something a bit more underhanded, stoop to his level."

"Poison? Now that is disappointing and cowardly."

"I'll agree with you on the cowardly side, but it's anything but disappointing, just look at your man."

Mei turned to Shin, who was shaking rapidly and using the tree to basically support his whole weight. Losing his grip, he collapsed and started seizing on the wet ground, Nise desperately removed his mask but grimaced when she found him foaming at the mouth. After a few seconds his body stopped having spasms and went disturbingly still.

"Took us a _damn_ long time to create something that potent, it goes straight into the bloodstream. Here's the kicker, after we landed a lucky shuriken coated with the stuff across his face, the bastard still wouldn't die. He went down, but he had reduced our numbers to us four here, so we retreated and hoped that the poison would finish him off. We heard he passed out and got carted back to Konoha, but by any luck the poison will wipe him out by... oh, let's say midnight tonight."

"Going after Sasuke was your first mistake, relentlessly hunting him can really put him a bad mood which I have to deal with when he comes home. Somehow managing to wound him was your second, Sasuke is a freak of nature, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he was fully healed up by now. Even if he wasn't capable of doing it himself, you do know that Konoha has some of the best healers, right? Attacking, insulting and killing one of my best men, that's strike number three, boys. But where you really crossed the line, was when you mentioned my future children." Mei said, complete and utter calmness in her voice.

The ninja who had been doing all the talking snarled, while the rest of his men looked completely unnerved. After some rapid hand signs from Mei, the light rain turned into a deep fog. Nise gathered up Shin's body to move it, then assist the Mizukage, however looking towards the fog, it seemed the latter wouldn't be necessary.

Though she couldn't see any of the horrific acts of violence she knew the Mizukage was delivering under the cover of the thick mist, Nise only had to hear the gruesome sounds to know what was happening. From a young age, all Kirigakure ninja are trained how to operate and move in mist as if they had full visibility.

Mei was in her element, though she didn't know the terrain, she didn't need to. The ninja were so loud as they tried to either counterattack or retreat, it gave away their position which made it all the easier to hunt them. Using a wide array of her skills, Mei burned, boiled, dissolved, melted, sliced and slashed her way through the first three ninja. Their screams made her wonder if she should have ended them quicker, though one split thought of Shin and Sasuke was enough to dispel any notions of charity.

Jumping lazily to avoid a poor excuse of a kunai throw, Mei performed some more hand signs and took the branch out from under the last ninja with a Mud Jutsu. As he went to catch another branch, Mei met him mid-air with a vicious kick to the ribs. Rewarded with a brutal crunch and a high-pitched scream, Mei landed graciously on the ground next to him and placed her foot on his neck.

"Now, you created this very deadly potion and while you don't seem like the sharpest kunai in the set, I'm sure you all thought far enough ahead to a scenario where one of you accidentally got exposed to some of it, no?" She may as well have been talking to herself, because the man had not yet stopped screaming.

"Shut up!" Mei kicked his head to emphasise her point. "A cure, or some form of remedy, do you have one?"

"Go to hell, you crazy bitch!" He ground out. "You and that Uchiha deserve each other, you're both monsters."

"Me?" Mei couldn't keep the offence out of her voice, as she rifled through his pouches and pockets. "I could understand hating Sasuke, to an extent, but you brought this on yourself."

Finding a small jar of a viscous liquid, Mei scrutinised the contents before looking down at the man whose facial expression didn't even attempt to hide his burning fury. That was all the proof she needed.

"Now then, before I give this to Sasuke and we procreate like crazy, I must ask you again, death by lava or death by asphyxiation?" She asked with a sadistic smile.

"Fuck. You."

"That's a great idea, why _not_ both. I'll use some molten lava and then... actually, there really won't be a 'then' now that I think about it. Just remember when you went after Sasuke, that was how you decided to live the rest of your life. We all got to live, or in your case die, by the decisions we make." Mei started to create the hand signs as she moved to give herself some extra space to avoid the heat.

Nise cradled her comrade's corpse as the fog began to lift, she turned in the direction where a brief moment of heat could be felt. She saw a silhouette eventually transform into the Mizukage, however she was almost unrecognisable. A far call from the elegant beauty she was a few hours earlier, Mei was now decorated in mud and gore. She had gone from sophisticated leader, to crazed serial killer.

"Come along Nise, let's see if our destination is anymore inviting." Mei said flatly.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha opened his eyes and the first thing he was greeted by was a blood-soaked figure who looked like they had come to finish the job they had started. Panicking and immediately reaching for his sword, he was stopped when a soft hand grabbed his wrist. Breathing heavily and looking around the room, he was met with a group of people who he was pretty sure were about to give him an intervention. His drinking problem hadn't escalated that bad, had it?

"Sasuke, can you hear me?" A voice, coming from the person who had grabbed his hand, his eyes trailed lower to the person's chest. "He's fine." Tsunade muttered.

"Trust Sasuke to immediately stare at a woman's breasts first thing when waking up, after almost dying." Sakura scoffed.

"I mean, to be fair, they are fairly noticeable when it comes to Tsunade." Naruto murmured.

"I didn't think he would be quite so bold as to blatantly stare when his, uh... girlfriend, is in the room?" Kakashi mused.

"Oh, we've given up on deciding what to call our relationship a long time ago, and I wouldn't worry about him staring at another woman's breasts when you've gone as long as we have without fornicating, you can forgive a few such discrepancies. I for example, have been having a torrid affair behind his back." The blood-soaked figure replied, no wait, not a blood-soaked figure.

"You look like you've been rolling around in faeces, then to clean up, you decided to take a bath filled with blood." Sasuke informed her. The room went deathly silent as all eyes stared at the duo, that was until Sakura ran to punch Sasuke only to be held back by Naruto.

"That is a nice way to introduce me to your friends, Sasuke. I see you've grown a pathetic excuse for a beard again, with that disgusting stubble on your face. You didn't use the razor I got you, because everyone knows you can't afford your own. Actually a beard might convey the fact that you are homeless quite nicely." Mei responded.

"You know, I had every intention of getting you another gift but I was a bit strapped for cash after I pretty much bailed you out of your debts."

"Oh yes, I've been meaning to thank you for that actually. It was nice to finally receive some payments after basically being treated like a prostitute by you, for the past year."

Kakashi looked over at Tsunade and raised a concerned eyebrow, somewhere the tone of the conversation had gone from light jests to venomous insults.

"No you're right, my fault for immediately leaving when I heard you were hurt, finding the people who hurt you and slaughtering them, losing one of my best men in the process, bringing Tsunade and Sakura the cure and basically being the reason why you're even awake now." Mei said bitterly.

Sasuke's eyes widened before he rubbed his head, he was still a bit groggy and this was not how he wanted this to go. Introducing a significant other to the family could be a delicate matter and so far he had not handled it the best.

"Mei, perhaps you'd like to come back to my house and get cleaned up." Tsunade suggested.

"No. I need to talk to her, alone." Sasuke interjected.

"It's quite alright, Tsunade, I will join you after. I would appreciate if you could attend to my Anbu member, maybe get her some food and take my other member off her hands."

Kakashi stood up. "As Hokage, I am at your service. Anything you need, I will be more than happy to provide."

"Thank you, Kakashi." Mei smiled, as both he and Tsunade walked out.

"What did he mean by _clearing her debts_?" Tsunade whispered.

"I'll explain later." Kakashi replied.

Sakura gave Sasuke's cheek a quick look over before moving towards the door.

"He'll be fine, a few punches might even wake him up properly and do him the world of good." Sakura added before flipping him off, which Sasuke returned, as she walked out.

Naruto gave a low chuckle, before placing a hand on his friends shoulder and giving him a playful dig, causing Sasuke to scowl and try to hit him back. He gave Mei a smile and a quick wink, as he joined his companions and closed the door. Mei sat on the edge of the hospital bed and looked at the small bandage that covered Sasuke's cheek, hard to believe that such a small cut was capable of such harm.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked, his voice containing a wave of concern.

"Ran into those friends of yours on the way over here, finally got to see what kind of people you've been running from the past few years. I was careless, Shin had to save me, took some of the poison that you got. It was a direct hit, he's not as strong as you, he was gone in about a minute." Mei said matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke said sullenly.

"I took care of them easily enough, figured if they were dealing with something that deadly, they'd have to have a method of stopping its effects. Found a jar of... goo, on one of them. Naruto came out and met us when we were close to Konoha, I told him to just take the stuff and go, we'd catch up. When I got here, your team were all gathered, thankfully Tsunade said that the goo, had... uh, I forget the name of it. Bottom line, it worked, you came to not long after."

Sasuke took in her tale and stared dead ahead at the wall, he hadn't thought anything of the shuriken at first. He was more annoyed that he had not managed to dodge it more than anything else. He could feel it take effect not long after though, he knew something was wrong. He dispatched as many of them as he could before he passed out, there was a point where he thought it was over. It would have been a pretty dismal death all things considered.

"I never thought the next bed I would be talking to you in would be a hospital bed." He said after a while, causing Mei to laugh.

"Not the ideal reunion." She agreed.

Another silence gripped the room. They were both unsure how to proceed the conversation, normally they started off pretty light whenever Sasuke returned, or they had other things on their mind. They were never thrust into the deep end, things that desperately had to be addressed before moving on.

"Mei, I-" Sasuke started.

"Why did you pay off Kirigakure's debts? Was it your feeble attempt at an apology, because I don't want your money Sasuke."

"I didn't need it. There's more money there than can I could spend in a lifetime, plus I've already got my own funds. Besides, I like the sound of Philanthropist more than I do Avenger." He smiled.

"You shouldn't have done it." Mei turned away.

"There's a lot of things I shouldn't done, things I wish I could go and take back-"

"Do you know _why_ I got attacked?" Mei asked him.

"Your connection to me?"

"Yes, there are people out there who don't like the idea of our children. They say that more Uchiha will be a curse upon the world."

"And what do you think?"

"I think I killed them... painfully."

"Just think, one day you'll have kids to do that for you." Sasuke smirked.

"The personal touch is what makes it though. Also, did my ears just deceive me, or did you just almost admit that I'm now _up to the task_?" Mei asked sarcastically.

"Sakura gave me an... excruciatingly accurate reminder about the female anatomy and the new advances in technology and Jutsu that can really help with fertility." Sasuke grimaced at the memory.

"I'm starting to like her more and more already." Mei laughed, causing Sasuke to groan as he laid back down in the bed. She placed her hand on top of his. "Sasuke, I'm fairly certain we won't _need_ any help with fertility if we go down that road, but that's a conversation for another day."

Sasuke stared back at her through half lidded eyes and made a guttural sound in agreement. She stroked his hand with her thumb. He wanted to reach out and touch her more, but he simply didn't have the energy and feeling her hand on top of his, was enough for now.

"Get some rest." She whispered, as she leaned over to his face.

"You're disgusting." He moaned.

"Well with that mess of dirt on your face, we're about even." She smiled and placed her lips to his.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been several years since the last time that Mei had been in Konoha. That had been back when the Third Hokage was still around, just about to pass on the mantle to Naruto's father, however brief that time had been. She had been trying to get away from all the violence and brutality present in her own village, and had found herself aimlessly wandering, not too dissimilar to Sasuke now. Though she was fairly confident that she didn't have death squads pursuing her with the enthusiasm of a toddler who just saw a dog with a puffy tail.

That was where she got her first proper look at the different clans and how they functioned together. She had seen the Byakugan from Ao previously and he had told her about his encounter with Shisui, but seeing this diverse a population, all coexisting within one village was intriguing to her. It almost made her long for the same thing in Kirigakure, variety was the spice of life after all. She wouldn't have minded less ninja leaving the village, and some handsome men like the ones in the Uchiha clan joining.

Speaking of Uchiha, the last one was finally up and about, after a few days of lazing about in bed. She was inclined to cut him slack however, as he had been running himself to the point of exhaustion, which, from knowing Sasuke's stamina levels personally, was quite concerning. Also, him being confined to rest allowed them to catch up on all their months apart. Sasuke being the conversationalist he was, had wrapped up everything going on with him in about three minutes flat.

He had almost literally jumped out of bed this morning after he had deemed himself to be fully recovered. Mei was now treating herself to a lovely breakfast and a front-row seat to see him work up a sweat as he checked that all his faculties were in order. He had not grown so much physically in their time apart, and for that she was thankful. When Naruto had told her about how many S Rank missions he had done, she almost expected him to be skin and bones when she next saw him. Thankfully, he had kept a healthy level of muscle and it seemed that Sakura had cleaned up any scars he had likely gotten in his adventures.

Finishing up with his exercises, Sasuke walked over to join her. Mei tossed him a towel and a bottle of water, which he took a large drink of. Using the towel to rid himself of sweat, he didn't miss how her predatory eyes trailed the length of his body.

"Enjoying the view?" He asked with a smile, sitting in a chair next to her and grabbing the apple which she had yet to touch.

"You do know how to put on quite the show. I must say, that was one of the most enjoyable breakfasts I've had for a while."

"I think anything would be better than hospital food." Sasuke said as he took a crunch out of the apple.

"How does it feel to be up and about again?" Mei asked.

"How did it look?" Sasuke smirked.

"Vigorous." She replied with an equally devious grin.

Sasuke chuckled before tossing the apple core onto the tray next to the remnants of Mei's meal. Standing up and stretching with a groan, Sasuke grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. Reaching over for his sword, which he had left lying against a wall, Sasuke clipped it onto his belt and nodded in satisfaction.

"You look quite the picture." Mei commented drily.

"Don't I always? Come on, let's get out of here." Sasuke gestured.

Sasuke held out his arm, to which Mei narrowed her eyes and stared at before walking on, laughing, he soon followed. He was in a jovial mood and even good-humoured enough to be open to some public displays of affection, the fact that Mei was the one to brush him off was no small amusement to him and just another thing that he now appreciated about her.

"It's quite the change to be walking around in your village instead of mine. Well it's yours too, you know you're always welcome there." Sasuke looked at her through the side of his eye with a bemused expression on his face. "You know what I mean." She muttered.

"You've been here before?" Sasuke asked.

"Once, I have to be honest, apart from a few extra heads on that rock of yours, not a lot has changed." Mei admitted.

"Heh, six heads on the rock spanning over a hundred years and I've met all of them."

"No intention on becoming number seven?"

"Out of all the things that Naruto probably should have killed me for, I have no doubt that he actually would end my life if I ever tried to take that from him." Sasuke snorted. "Plus, I'm fairly certain I'm ineligible to become Hokage, due to conflicts of interest and that."

"You always come up with the most poetic compliments for me. 'Conflicts of interest'. I do think that is my new favourite one." The sarcasm dripping from her voice was almost tangible.

"Speaking of Kages, how do you think your protégé is holding up?"

This had been on Mei's mind for the three days that she had spent here. She had sent Nise home along with several Konoha Anbu, compliments of Kakashi, which were to assist in carrying Shin's body, as well as to function as protection. She had also given her a letter to be delivered to Chojuro, letting him know that she intended to spend some time in Konoha with Sasuke. She had no doubts in Chojuro's abilities, just his confidence.

"I have total faith that Chojuro is keep Kirigakure whole." Mei said quickly.

"That's... reassuring."

Walking into the more populated areas of the village, the pair caught some odd looks and sideways glances. Sasuke was used to getting these stares without Mei accompanying him, so there wasn't anything for him to get worked up over. On the other hand, Mei practically basked in all the attention, enjoying the few jealous gazes directed at Sasuke from some envious ninja who had looked her up and down.

It seemed to Mei that Konoha had much more of a social and carefree atmosphere than Kirigakure, idle conversation and laughing children added to the ambience. Business seemed to be prosperous and thriving, with a wide variety in the types of stores and restaurants. Though it wasn't as prevalent in Kirigakure as it was here, it seemed that in the peaceful times, civilian professions became even more widespread than ninja ones. Of course, it could be that the ratio of civilians to ninja hadn't recovered yet, but three years after the war, Mei expected to see at least some increase.

Eventually, the hordes of people following them thinned out, and soon they were left on their own again. The warm spring day had the perfect conditions for Sasuke to get back on his feet, and the soft breeze that glided through the air made sure that the heat wasn't too stifling.

Strolling to the outskirts of the village, Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks, his breath hitched and body became rigid. Mei was curious about his sudden stop, until her eyes tracked what Sasuke was looking at. Moving to a wall that had more cracks than Tsunade's genuine skin, Sasuke placed his hand on the faded remains of his clan's symbol and lowered his head.

Pain had left this place in devastation, and what was still in one piece, looked to be on the verge of collapsing under the most minor duress.

Sasuke had not been anywhere near his clan's district since that brief visit to Konoha during the war with his team, and Orochimaru. Even then, he had more pressing matters on his mind to place any real weight on the condition of his home, Naruto was pretty much waging a one-man war against Madara and Obito, and Sasuke had to get some answers from the men who had been immortalised in stone.

Seeing how unchanged it was now though, he couldn't help but feel a little disgusted and angry. On one hand, he supposed he should be glad that the villagers had enough respect to leave it untouched, so he could reform it as he saw fit. On the other more, pessimistic, side of things, he got the sense that the villagers left it as it was simply because they didn't give a damn. His outrage quickly turned into sullen acceptance, it's not like he couldn't understand why they would want to leave the ruins to decay, the Uchiha didn't have the best track record and his defection probably didn't raise opinions of them.

Mei stood silently and patiently as Sasuke paid his respects. She didn't want to interrupt and offer any shallow sympathies, what little Sasuke had shared about his family gave her an indication that he didn't want to talk about them, much less the massacre in which they were killed. If he wanted to talk about it, that was his decision, she knew better than to pester him over it.

Straightening up, Sasuke approached the ancient gate that guarded the entrance to the Uchiha Compound. With a grunt, Sasuke pushed the rusty behemoth back and took in the sight of the desecrated section of Konoha. A brief flashback to that night robbed him of air, however Mei was instantly there to snap him out of it by gently squeezing his hand. He gave her an appreciative look before moving forward at a slow pace, Mei followed from a few steps behind.

When a gust of wind kicked up a puff of dust, Mei couldn't help but think that Sasuke really did resemble the last of his clan, as he walked through it, unflustered. It was eerie, he was essentially a lone wanderer in a ghost town, wandering through the graveyard of his ancestors.

However, his unmatched swagger was missing from his stride, his movements were contemplative and gloomy. Knowing that his mind was probably engaging in some unpleasant thoughts that would weigh him down, Mei decided to take a look around the district.

The place was an absolute wreck, buildings reduced to rubble, rampant vegetation growing from the remains. Whatever happy homes existed here at one point were long gone, and that was well before Pain destroyed them. She didn't even want to think about how the Third Hokage had reacted when he heard the news, she didn't know how she would react if she was put in a situation that was even only half as bad.

The fact that Sasuke was as mentally stable as he was currently, was nothing short of a miracle in her opinion. While he had gone off the deep end on a few occasions, him being here now, was a testament to him as a resilient man. Mei couldn't stop the feeling of pride she felt for him even if she tried.

Up ahead, Sasuke was going down memory lane, except this lane was littered with the corpses of his friends and family. Itachi and Obito had worked efficiently and brutally to wipe the clan out in one night. They were like Santa in that way, except instead of delivering toys to children, they slit their throats.

Trying to piece together what had happened that night, in the past, was usually enough to bring him on the verge of tears all over again. However, despite currently being at the epicentre of his trauma, he didn't feel utterly desolate, more numb than anything else. Having all the answers and motivations about what took place was... liberating in a sense. Sasuke didn't have a goal or vengeance to seek out, he could simply grieve. Even then, he had already had his fair share of mourning for his fallen clan.

All that was happening now, was that a bitter wave of nostalgia that he could have done without, was drowning him. While Sasuke had a pretty good memory, the vivid pictures his mind was now painting of simpler and blissful times when he was a boy, were a little much. He could understand learning from the past, but seeing visions of his dead relatives during happier times did nothing but cause his heart to ache.

Heading deeper into the district, Sasuke finally paused right outside his destination. The plants covering the pathway were swiftly cut down; Sasuke felt some small satisfaction at having his sword back in his hands. His home had held up quite well all things considered, which was more than could be said for the majority of the other buildings. As he ambled his way to the front door, he made a mental note of all the things that would need to be fixed.

By the time Mei caught up to Sasuke, the sun had retreated behind some dark clouds that threatened to ruin any trace of a nice day. Seeing that Sasuke had gone inside his house, she decided to give him some space and wait for him on the porch.

The interior of his home was just how he left it, he had been eager to leave quickly and only taken the basic essentials. The Third Hokage had immediately provided him with a new apartment elsewhere in Konoha. Sasuke had appreciated that, though looking back, it might have been a move inspired by the guilt that Sarutobi felt, more than a promise to Itachi.

Sasuke let out a small smile, his pessimistic side seemed to creep in every thought he could conceive. That was just how he was, he'd said it before, he was the Yang to Naruto's Yin, he was never one for blind hope.

 _"Hey Sasuke, Obito, Madara and Kaguya are all defeated. Let's go home and be celebrated as heroes."_

 _"No thanks, let me capture all the Tailed Beasts and start a revolution. I'll kill all the Kage while they're defenceless, including the one who will become the future mother of my children."_

That was him. He had a habit of making a goal and sticking to it, whether it be kill Itachi or Danzo, or start a revolution, once he set his mind to it, he wouldn't stop until it was accomplished or he was taken down. Which left him in a confused state after the war, being a free man and having no particular mission to achieve was unheard of to him. Mei had been a great way for him to clear his head and revaluate his life, her succour made him immediately infatuated with her.

Seeing a picture frame turned down was pretty much a metaphor for his home in the weeks leading up to Itachi's actions. Frequent arguments between his father and brother; that he couldn't understand, while his mother tried to smile and keep the peace. Lifting up the frame revealed the family photo encased in some cracked glass. His father and brother borderline scowling were par for the course, as was his mother smiling. Meanwhile, a younger version of himself held a pretty neutral expression, it was like he was caught between the gentleness of his mother and severity of his father.

Going up the stairs, he first looked into Itachi's room which was still ransacked. Anbu members had torn it apart looking for any clues as to his motivations, or hints about where he had gone for refuge. It wouldn't be too long before he revealed himself, sporting a new black cloak with red clouds.

His own room was next, practically stripped bare, as he had moved his belongings to his new apartment. He distinctly remembered the ninja that the Third had sent with him being incredibly awkward, uneasy to say anything to him as he wordlessly and mechanically picked up what he would need. Sasuke had been adamant that he would go and gather his possessions, when the Third had offered to have someone bring them to him.

He couldn't remember what was going through his head, but he suspected that despite the horror that took place in the house, any familiarity would have been comforting to his young, twisted mind.

Finally, he came to the last room in the house, his parents bedroom. Sitting down on the bed, he placed his head in his hands. He felt emotionally drained, reminiscing about his past and confronting his demons had left his mind racing. Looking around the room, an item on the dresser caught his eye, standing up, he moved over to it.

It was a hairbrush that his mother had first used on Itachi, with Uchiha having such luscious hair, it was only natural for the den mother to look after them. When Sasuke was born, the brush was also used on him, somehow his mother had managed to style his hair into an image that got him mocked more than once. And he wouldn't have traded it for anything.

One of his earliest memories was after a bath, his mother had wrapped a towel around him and then delicately brushed his hair while she sat on the bed. His father and brother were out, so it was just the two of them, feeling tired and warm. Sasuke gave a sad smile at the flashback. Taking the old, wooden brush, Sasuke tucked it in his pocket and headed downstairs.

Mei had moved inside the house and sat elegantly on a very worn-out and rugged couch. Standing up to face him, she wrapped her arms around him when she saw how heavy-hearted he was. Sasuke returned the hug and then looked up to see a downpour going on outside. Parting from the hug, Mei planted a quick kiss on his cheek and gave him a soft smile.

"I think we'll have to wait here a bit longer unless you want to throw up a Susanoo to shield us from the rain." Mei said.

"No, let's... let's stay here tonight." Sasuke stated, causing Mei's eyes to widen.

"Are you sure?" She asked carefully.

"Yeah, I'm going to rebuild this place, stronger and wiser. I can't really do that if I'm afraid to stay in my own home."

"Okay, is there food?"

"No."

"A bed?"

Sasuke thought about this, he could use his parents but it seemed slightly... disrespectful to him. It would probably be best if he got a new mattress and bed. "No."

"A toilet?"

Pain would have knocked and bent all the sewage pipes in the Uchiha district, and the odds of them being magically repaired were unlikely. Mei watched Sasuke walk out to the porch and suddenly a purple structure formed around him. He turned back to her and extended his hand.

"Alright, my apartment it is."

* * *

Mei woke up during the middle of the night and immediately noticed Sasuke's absence. She could hear that the rain had not let up and with the abrasive sounds of thunder in the distance, had only gotten worse. A cool breeze caused her to sit up and spot where her missing beau had gone, outside on the balcony he stood as still as a statue. Mei threw on a quick gown that Tsunade had provided for her and as she crept closer to him, her statue comparisons were only proved more accurate.

Sasuke leaned on the balcony railing in nothing but a baggy pair of trousers. The way the rain cascaded down his silk, marble-like skin and turned his smooth, ebony locks into a wet, tousled mess that almost came down to his shoulders, made him look nothing short of beautiful in her opinion. She was glad that he hadn't inherited the stress lines that seemed to adorn a lot of other members of his clan, his father and brother included.

"I'd rather you didn't stand out there, get saturated and possibly catch a cold. For one, I don't want to sleep on a soaking mattress with you. Second, if you do get a cold, you'd almost certainly pass it onto me." Mei called out to him. Sasuke turned around with a grin.

"First, we've slept on a wet mattress plenty of times and you rarely complain then, not to mention that this is my bed for a change. Next, we both know that if I caught a cold you would practically quarantine me in the hospital until I recovered." He replied, coming in from the balcony.

Mei smiled and after a few swift movements of her hands, produced some heated air that turned the rain droplets into steam. Sasuke smiled at the surprise and affectionate gesture she had given him, it had been a while since she had done that. Once the steam had dissipated out into the harsh night, Sasuke closed the balcony door and headed back to bed.

"What was that about?" She asked, lying back down and resting her head on his chest.

"Nightmare." He answered.

"Aren't you a little old for nightmares? Between that and almost wetting the bed, you're not exactly helping your case." She joked.

"Nightmares don't go away because you're a certain age, if anything they get worse. Growing older can help you understand them, understanding them only makes them all the more real. One thing I've learned is that my best dreams and worst nightmares, always have the same people in them." Sasuke explained, looking up at the ceiling.

"Your family?" Mei asked gently, placing a kiss on his chest.

"Yeah. I know we've been through this enough times and I don't want to start a fight again, but going back home today. I can't help but fear rebuilding my entire district from the ground up, only for it to remain empty, it feels like I'd be letting them down. You know this already though, and I'm sorry that I keep going on about it, I know it's not your fault in any way."

"Sasuke, if you truly feel that loving me is that selfish, I wouldn't... hold it against you, if you decided to leave. Seeing you in your house earlier, I know the weight that's on your shoulders."

Sasuke looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. While he appreciated her vulnerability and willingness to sacrifice her happiness for him, he wasn't used to seeing Mei in this kind of state. It was her natural confidence in herself that separated her from the practically every other woman he knew.

"If I was going to leave for good, I would have done it a long time ago. I already told you, I want to do this with you. I'm in this for the long haul now, Mei."

Mei reached up and caressed his cheek before entwining their lips. Sasuke closed his eyes and enjoyed the soft gasp she made as he moved his hands down her voluptuous body. The hospital definitely wasn't the ideal place for catching up physically, so he made sure that he took his time as soon as they got back to his apartment. As they parted to catch their breath, Mei placed a finger on Sasuke's chin to stop him from continuing.

"Before we go on, there are some things we have to discuss."

"Can't we talk about in the morning?" Sasuke groaned.

"I would, only you're generally more communicative in bed." She responded.

He couldn't exactly disagree with her. "Alright, what is it?"

"I have to return to Kirigakure soon."

"I'm not leaving Konoha until the Uchiha district is rebuilt, and up to a standard that I'm happy with."

"So, what's the plan?" She asked. Sasuke's face turned into one of thought as he mused on their situation. After, a few moments he sat back up.

"You go back to Kirigakure whenever you see fit, I'll stay here and work on repairing my home. Seeing as how I don't the first thing about building, it may take a while, though I'm sure with Naruto's support, I can get a few people to help me out. Once that's done, I'll come join and stay with you in Kirigakure until the time comes where we have to return to Konoha." He proposed.

"And what time would that be?"

"I don't care how good you think your doctors are in your village, I am having no one but Tsunade and either Shizune, or Sakura, deliver my child."

Mei was taken aback by the significance of his words, not to mention how well thought out his arrangement was. "You seem to be completely certain about your ability to resurrect your clan." Sasuke surprised her by twisting his hips, causing her to moan.

"I only know one tried and tested way to resurrect clans, and fortunately for you, I also happen to be an expert at it." He smirked, pulling her down and immediately tangling tongues, before soon intertwining their bodies.


	9. Chapter 9

The rebuilding of the Uchiha district truly marked the end of the recovery process from the Fourth Shinobi World War. It had been roughly five and a half years since the war had ended, those sixty-six month were a time of mourning and rebuilding for most people. Forty-two of those months had been the time that Sasuke had been with Mei.

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't _that_ long. However going from a lost nineteen year old trying to find his place in the world, who was looking for a night's comfort in an unfriendly part of the world, to a more level-headed and wise twenty two year old who was focused on the future by building a family, seemed like growth that should have taken far longer than three and a half years.

That growth was all well and good, though it wouldn't do much good if his new family didn't have a proper home to live in. By "proper", he meant a home that _he_ wanted to raise them in and conveniently ignored that Mei could literally have any plot of land or home in the Land of Water. Perhaps he was still a bit off from being considered "wise".

It took about three or four months until Sasuke had fully repaired the Uchiha district, the first part had been the quickest and most fun of the entire process. In order to rebuild, he would have to remove the ruins of buildings blocking his way. He took a brief, sad look at the feeble remains of his old district, before activating his Susanoo and going to work.

Under normal circumstances, Sasuke would have considered the wanton destruction as uncouth, however it had been far too long since he had let loose and it was a good opportunity to check that he was still in tiptop shape.

In hindsight, he probably should have given the rest of Konoha a warning about what he was going to do, as no sooner had he bulldozed through three buildings, did a large crowd form to watch him. There was a mixture of fear and confusion in their eyes that he found amusing, he could only imagine what thoughts they had conjured up about the spectacle.

He had rejected his heritage and was destroying his clan's grave as a way to disown himself, perhaps? Or maybe that Mei had broken up with him and he was venting his anger by ripping apart some old structures.

After he informed the villagers of his intentions the crowd dispersed rapidly, with only one person remaining.

"So, you gonna need any help with all of this?" The grinning blond-haired ninja asked.

"Not from you." Sasuke quickly replied, turning his back to him and getting back to work.

"Asshole." Naruto muttered with a small grin tugging at his lips.

He caught up to Sasuke and with a tornado blend of orange and purple, they were soon both standing on flat ground, primed to be built upon. Naruto's golden aura and Sasuke's purple exoskeleton dissipated, as they pondered the next step in Sasuke's master plan.

"You plan on getting rid of that?" Naruto asked, gesturing to the pile of rubble that they had just created.

"Aren't there builders that can reuse this stuff?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto walked over and picked up a stray brick that immediately crumbled in his hands.

"Yeah, I'm sure that brittle materials like this are exactly the kind of foundation that you want to build your new home on. How much of this have you actually thought out, Sasuke?"

"I'm... not much of an architect, and to be honest I didn't expect to get any help with this. I figured I'd at least clear the way so I could see what I'm dealing with."

"So you're just making this up as you go along?" Naruto asked incredulously. The silence he got from the Uchiha was deafening and he couldn't stop the weary sigh that escaped him.

"Well, what would you suggest? Don't tell me that you've suddenly taken up the craft of construction?" Sasuke asked irritably.

"Alright, let me ask you this: Have you got any money set aside for this?"

"I've still got some funds remaining, not enough for the whole district though."

"The whole district? How many kids are you planning on having?" Naruto asked, to which Sasuke chuckled lowly. "Well, we can at least make a start on your house, you have the money for that."

"I think I'll have a hard time convincing anyone to work for me, you saw how they fled like rats after they were satisfied they weren't in danger."

"Maybe let me handle that." Naruto smiled. "You should worry about getting rid of all that crap over there so they actually have room to work."

"You have these people at your beck and call, that must be a useful asset to have." Sasuke jeered to Naruto, as he walked away.

"Having this kind of influence isn't something that can be bought with money, only blood, and God knows I've shed enough for this village. Can't be acquired, only earned." Naruto replied.

And true to his word, once Naruto had raised the call for the rebuilding of the Uchiha district, it was like the floodgates had opened and soon, everyone began to lend a hand.

Over the following weeks, the ground was dug up and clean, new pipes were installed, allowing for fresh water to flow freely. Where once, broken homes swayed unsteadily, new houses were raised, ready to be filled and to stand strong for several generations. Pristine paint covered old wounds and once again the fan of the Uchiha was ready to stoke the Land of Fire.

It was only when Sasuke saw his newly built home, that he truly felt closer to his role as the Uchiha patriarch. While his previous house wasn't lacking for size, staring at the manor in front of him, made him wonder if he had gone a bit over the top in his specifications. Working on it bit by bit robbed him of seeing how huge it actually was in its totality.

Finally, after all his labours and stresses, Sasuke had a place that he could proudly call his own. His own district, his own home.

Turning around, he stood to face the crowd of people that had helped for the past few months. He wasn't really sure what he should say to them, words of gratitude of course, but he had never been particularly good at thanking people. Normally, Mei and Naruto had gotten the gist of what he meant whenever they received a rambling mess of words that were intended to show appreciation.

He had always believed actions spoke louder than words, so looking at a group of expectant faces was a little unnerving to him. He turned to Naruto with a desperate look on his face to bail him out. Sighing, Naruto moved in front of the crowd.

"I think what Sasuke is trying, and failing, to say to all of you, is thank you. With your help, I hope that we can finally put the past behind us and move forward into a new chapter for Konoha. Don't misconstrue that as me saying we should forget the atrocities that were allowed to take place here. It is the mistakes of the past that we need to learn from, so as not to repeat them. Your willingness to help repair the Uchiha's home is a testament to that, letting go of grudges and hate, so as to make way for the next generation."

To Sasuke's cynical eyes, it looked like Naruto could have gone on babbling and tossing in buzzwords forever, all while the crowd continued to eat it up, but thankfully he decided to cut it short. After the crowd had finished clapping their hands together like seals, Sasuke approached Naruto and they went to sit down on a newly built bench.

"Not bad, you might have actually turn out to be a promising Kage after all." Sasuke commented.

"I don't know man, it kinda felt like I'm just making these speeches up as I go along."

"You mean you weren't doing that all the previous times?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"You were so not the worth the effort." Naruto chuckled. "What's your plan now?"

"Head to Kirigakure, give this place some new occupants."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you got the best deal out of all of us. Brand new home and you get to spend the rest of your days as a trophy husband."

"You do know you could that as well if you wanted, rather easily too I'd imagine?"

"Nah, I think I'd get bored quick. I'm just saying, you get to live in the lap of luxury while Sakura and I are training and doing leg work."

"Oh come on, Sakura is practically already running the hospital and you'll be Hokage in about two years."

"I think it'll be a bit longer than that." Naruto muttered.

"Well, look on the bright side, you've got the people's love and respect."

"Every silver lining, eh?" Naruto smiled.

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Sasuke stood up and bumped fists with him.

"You gonna be back soon?" Naruto asked.

"Probably not, things to take care of before I settle in here fully. Plus, it's fun to hang out with you in short doses, but being around you for months on end means I'm getting pretty sick of looking at you."

"Then I guess I'll see when you I see you, dick." Naruto stuck his tongue out and flipped him off.

"Count on it. Hey, do me a favour and make sure this place is still here when I get back."

"You're not gonna... poke my forehead, are you?" Naruto asked, causing Sasuke to laugh.

"Goodbye, idiot." Sasuke began levitating before he took off out of the village.

"See you, ya bastard." Naruto smiled as he watched Sasuke fly out of view.

* * *

While Konoha was being fully restored with the inclusion of the Uchiha district, this place hadn't changed much. Kirigakure was about as drab as ever, landing at the gates to the village, Sasuke groaned lowly and cracked the joints in his legs, it always felt good to use his feet again after flying. Passing through the village he did receive more nice looks than scowls, at least if the village wasn't brighter, the people were.

Heading straight for Mei's office, he couldn't stop reminding himself that the last time he had been here was when they had fought, and by fought he meant that he essentially called her barren. Even with his apology, he couldn't help but still feel guilty. His irrational mind had once again got the better of him.

Climbing the stairs, he tried to think of what he should say. Start off with light conversation, or just dive into the deep end and wear his heart on his sleeve. No, that wasn't his style. Well, when he was sober at least.

Walking past her guards he found her talking to Chojuro, while it may looked like she was passing on wisdom to her apprentice, to Sasuke's eyes he could only see her tying up loose ends before she was ready to stay with him permanently. A little selfish on his part, sure, but he didn't want her attention to be divided between being a mother and being Mizukage.

He was already nervous enough about being a father, being about as qualified to be a parent as Sakura was to be an anger management therapist. It was one thing to want a child, it was quite another to nurture, raise and care for one. He wanted her watching his every step, ensuring that he wouldn't screw up his child worse than any past member of his clan.

Upon seeing Sasuke standing at her doorstep, Mei dismissed her protégée and stood to greet him.

It amazed him how beautiful she still looked to him after all this time. He was still as attracted to her as ever, absence did make the heart grow fonder, though he suspected it was something more. It was all well and good for them to fool around and entertain the idea of their future, it was another thing entirely to have a brand new house waiting to go. His responsibilities and priorities felt all a bit more real to him now, and he wanted her to be by his side every step of the way.

"Sasuke." Mei smiled warmly.

She didn't get much time to say anything else as he grabbed her by the waist and pushed her up against the wall, his lips hungrily overwhelmed her. Mei's hands desperately clawed into his silky hair as he pressed his body against hers, before rapidly robbing her of clothing.

The Anbu standing outside by the door turned their heads to look at each other, though their masks were expressionless, the gesture said everything. The moans coming from the Mizukage's office were only getting louder, and made them consider if their cushy guard job was all it was cracked up to be.

* * *

Sasuke had always maintained that the couch in her office was as comfortable as their bed and, lying next to him on it, she couldn't help but agree.

"Well, hello to you too." Mei panted, regaining her breath. Sasuke laughed and pulled her to him, letting his tongue lazily explore her mouth.

"Figured I'd start off our parenting endeavour on a strong note." He said, parting from the kiss.

"Make a show of dominance, eh? Can't say I'm complaining, though I'm pretty sure half the village must have heard of us."

"Let them hear, having their Mizukage happy should increase morale."

"Indeed. So, what have you been up to the past few months?"

"Building, building and more building. Plus, I don't want to see Naruto for like, another year." He groaned.

"I'm all for having you to myself for a while." She smirked.

"That's good, because I don't plan on going anywhere. Though I distinctly remember the last time I was here you got fed up with me."

"That was before I knew how much of a lush you were." She chuckled.

"You make it sound like I'm an alcoholic wreck."

"No, but I've found that you are generally more fun when under the influence of alcohol."

"You sure about that?" Sasuke asked, harkening back to their fight.

"Well, it makes you honest if nothing else."

"What about you, how have you been spending your few months of freedom?" Sasuke asked, desperate to change the subject.

"It's been alright, I've gotten used to the whole "long distance relationship" thing by now. The people have been catching on that there's a transition coming, I think it should be pretty easy for me to pass the torch."

"You won't need to worry about distance anymore, I told you, I've taken care of all my affairs. I'm going to be stuck to you like glue." Sasuke said, gently stroking her hip.

"You're going to be following around like a little puppy, then?" Mei smiled.

"I think you know better than anyone, how hard it can be to bring me to heel." Sasuke grinned in return. He moved on top of her, before lowering his head to bring his lips to hers.

* * *

Mei now had much more freedom than ever before, as she was fine tuning Chojuro to replace her. The young, soon-to-be-Mizukage, had already gotten his feet wet when she had stayed with him in Konoha for that week.

It wasn't surprising that Mei wanted to leave office on a high note. Both her and Tsunade weren't Kages for long, however they did what was needed at the time, putting their respective villages ahead of their own desires. Neither had expressed particular interest for the job when it was offered, though Mei wanted to help her people, and Tsunade could see how having Jiraiya at the helm could only end horribly.

It seemed the other villages would be following suit, with A and Ohnoki set to retire in mere weeks. Not to mention that Gaara had pretty much started the passing of the torch years ago when he became Kazekage.

Though Sasuke knew all eyes would be on the new Hokage. He didn't much believe in ideas such as fate or destiny, though if he was to make an exception, Naruto was practically born for that position.

While Gaara might have started the transfer of power to the newer generation, Naruto would finally cement it in stone when his head was etched in rock next to his father and the other Hokage.

Sasuke scowled at himself as his thoughts once again circled back to the blond-haired ninja, he just couldn't seem to escape him, no matter how much he wanted to.

Drinking some tea after breakfast outside in Mei's garden on an unnaturally lovely morning, his sophisticated musings were interrupted by a howl of an animal that sounded like it was in pain. Mei shortly came out in her robe, with her own cup of tea and sat down next to him.

"I'm still surprised that you make such a nice breakfast, if you'll pardon my scepticism. I think it's because you do it so rarely." Mei teased.

"Well I was cooking for myself long before you came into my life, you know? Always had to have a good breakfast."

"Do you always lay out shirtless afterwards too?"

"Robes were never my style, I'd throw a shirt on if it was cold or get dressed properly. But for just lounging out here, in one of the rare days that it's actually sunny here?" Sasuke shrugged.

"It wasn't a complaint, it makes you seem... relaxed, I like it." Mei smirked, taking a sip of her tea before the howling began again. "That damn dog." She muttered.

"Since when does Kirigakure have dogs that are that loud?" Sasuke asked.

"Only recently, a family whose child had apparently been pestering for them to get a pet, finally gave in after months of refusing. Unfortunately for them, they just happened to get the pick of the litter when it comes to screaming. The father was insistent on getting rid of it immediately, however when he saw how attached his daughter had gotten to the mutt, he just didn't have the heart."

Sasuke scoffed at this, he was sure the father didn't have the heart, but once the neighbours had lost their patience by constantly being woken up by the mongrel, they'd help him with getting rid of it.

"You ever have a pet, Sasuke?" Mei asked.

"No, well... kind of. There was a friend of the Uchiha clan who was big on cats, Itachi and I used to visit her whenever Itachi had errands to run. I used to gather paw prints of the cats there and I guess I've had a soft spot for the creatures ever since." Sasuke smiled.

"But you've never properly owned one, though?"

"Owned one? No. But I do have a current animal that's more of a partner than a pet." He said, standing up and moving to the middle of the garden.

"If you summon a giant snake in my garden I will burn it, then you, to ashes." Mei declared, causing Sasuke to laugh.

"No, not a snake. Something much more majestic." Sasuke assured her, before making a few hand signs and placing them on the ground.

With a poof of white smoke, two huge wings emerged to blow the fumes away, as well as create a sizeable gust of wind. Mei couldn't help the involuntary and undignified squeal that left her mouth, standing in her garden now was a massive, brown hawk. While the sheer height of the bird had initially caught her off guard, she couldn't help but admire the sheer elegance of the creature.

She also didn't miss how Sasuke affectionately stroked the animal's beak.

"Garuda, my personal summon." Sasuke informed her.

"He certainly is a big one." Mei commented, feeling a little silly at not having anything more intelligent to add.

"Don't think I didn't hear your little squeak." He smirked. "He's always been reliable, whenever I summon him, always ready to go. That's why I still bring him out from time to time, just to show that I appreciate him. Even though I don't really need his ability to fly anymore, he's still dear to me. Yeah, kind of like a pet I guess."

Sasuke turned to her and extended out his hand to her. "Care to join me?"

"You want me to fly, now?" Mei asked, shocked.

"Come on, you've heard how enjoyable it is from me, don't you want to experience it?"

It took about two seconds before Mei's curiosity got the better of her and Sasuke helped her climb onto Garuda's back. He wrapped his arms around her stomach which admittedly, did reassure her.

"Is he going to be able to fly properly with both of us on his back?" Mei asked.

"You think I'd hold him in such high regard if he couldn't carry me and my partner, just watch."

With a flap of its powerful wings, the hawk rose from the ground quickly before gaining altitude as well as speed. It wasn't long until they were high above Kirigakure, Mei was speechless as she gazed upon the surrounding lands from a perspective she had never seen before.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Sasuke asked in a raised voice.

Mei could only nod in astonishment. It didn't escape her how Sasuke seemed to be shivering at this altitude and was doing his best to dodge her hair from blowing in his face. Up here, she was even more thankful that Sasuke had his arms around her, he was ensuring that her robe didn't come loose and blow away.

They soared in the air, taking in the views of the Land of Water for as far as their eyes could see. After twenty minutes, the cold had gotten to both of them and Sasuke directed Garuda to bring them back. When Sasuke could make out the village, he leaned over to whisper in Mei's ear.

"We're going to be taking the express way down." He grinned mischievously. Before Mei could ask what he meant by this, she found herself plummeting to the ground. "Thank you, old friend." Sasuke rubbed the top of Garuda's head quickly before diving after Mei.

"You bastard!" She screamed at him when he had reached the same altitude as her. Sasuke's face was almost red from laughing at her terrified expression, and after he had sufficiently amused himself and saw how close they were to the ground, he caught her in his arms, bridal style and immediately slowed their descent.

"A much gentler landing I think, my lady." Sasuke smirked at her, as he softly glided them back towards Mei's garden. Landing with immense grace, Sasuke delicately placed Mei down and braced himself for the world of pain he knew was coming.

"Never... do that again." She quietly warned him.

"You have my word." Sasuke vowed, struggling to keep a straight face.

Mei walked inside without saying another word to him, which he knew was never a good sign. Though, despite the cold shoulder he was bound to receive for the rest of the day, he was adamant that the look of sheer horror on Mei Terumi's face which he had just witnessed, had been more than worth it.

* * *

He had never seen anything like it. Such concentration, such skill.

There was a festival currently going on in Kirigakure. What it was for, he couldn't remember, though as the Mizukage's partner, Sasuke was expected to attend. Nonetheless, his days of being associated with the Mizukage were numbered, as Mei had announced the date that she would be stepping down, and Chojuro would be her successor. That date? Two months from today.

Honestly, it didn't matter much to Sasuke, as she was basically in her office pretending to do work, while in actuality she was just waiting for him to visit and alleviate her boredom. Chojuro was receiving all relevant paperwork, and was currently in the process of choosing his advisors. Though it would be Sasuke's genuine pleasure to stand by her side on the day she stepped down, when all the people would give her all the credit she so rightfully deserved in improving their quality of life.

That was all to come in the future however, Sasuke was focused on the here and now. His attention was fully directed at one of the many parlour games that the festival had brought.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" Mei asked, finally catching up with him. She had been mingling with the villagers, many of whom had expressed sadness and well-wishes after she announced her retirement.

"It's a game of precision and confidence. You have to move with speed, despite your nerves and mind begging you to slow down." He spoke quietly, as if he was talking to himself.

"What, you mean the kunai game?" She asked.

Mei assumed he was referring to the old samurai who was sitting at a table, hand splayed out, stabbing at the space between his fingers at a high speed. He would alternate the order in which he attempted to pierce the gaps to make it more challenging.

"It's a stupid game, the best case scenario is that you get to walk away unscathed, I can't imagine why-" Mei was interrupted by Sasuke pulling up a chair opposite the samurai.

"You mind if I try that?" Sasuke asked kindly.

The samurai looked at him with a grizzled look. "I don't doubt your abilities, Sasuke Uchiha, it's your mind I'm concerned for. In this game, your fears have a way of going against even the most razor sharp reflexes and keen eyes. You let just one small bit of doubt creep inside your head, your looking at walking away with the same amount of fingers, as your friend has tails."

"I don't scare easy." Sasuke replied adamantly. The samurai nodded in what seemed to be agreement, and handed Sasuke the kunai.

"This might be the most idiotic thing you've ever done. Do you know how strong of a statement that is?" Mei asked incredulously, as Sasuke placed his palm on the table.

"Mei, relax." Sasuke reassured her by having his charcoal eye swirl into a blood red.

Spinning the kunai on his index finger for luck, Sasuke's hand moved at blinding speed thrusting into the narrow expanse between each of his fingers. Even the samurai watched in amazement as the kunai was reduced to nothing but a blur. Mei heard hushed murmurs from behind her and looked to see that almost the entire festival had paused and was watching in stunned amazement.

Finally planting the kunai in the table in front of the samurai with a thud, Sasuke nodded in satisfaction. A huge cheer went up from the crowd and Mei had to take a minute to pick her jaw up from the floor. After she composed herself, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"It seems all that wrist action is finally starting to pay off." Mei winked.

"It seems so." He laughed.

"Forgive me for ever doubting you."

"Forgiven." Sasuke grinned, before pulling her in for a deep kiss which inspired another round of applause from the audience.

"Now do it without the Sharingan." A lone voice called out from the crowd.

Suddenly, almost immediately, the entire village went deathly silent. It was as if Sasuke's entire manhood had been called into question at a moment's notice. Luckily, Mei knew him well enough that he wouldn't risk one of his digits for mere pride-

Sasuke had retaken his seat and looked resolute at the samurai.

"Sasuke, stop. I will not be the one to explain to all your friends, our future children, why you are missing a finger. Worse than that is how I know that you're going to constantly whine and moan at me for not talking you out of it." Mei pointed out.

They were all completely accurate and valid reasons to not proceed, however, it was like Sasuke had gone deaf and was unwilling to stop himself. He grabbed the kunai handle and plucked it out from the wood from which he had embedded it in. He lay his hand back on the table and spread his fingers as far apart as he could. He raised the kunai and took a deep breath, before plunging it down to its first target...

* * *

Finally pulling the bandage off his index finger, Sasuke smirked in satisfaction at seeing how his little nick had healed fully. It had only been his second strike when a stray firework going off in the other end of the village, mixed with the fear of losing a finger, had caused a momentary lapse in concentration and made him cut his finger.

It had been slightly embarrassing to go from lightning fast and receiving thunderous applause, to having the same deftness as a clumsy chef.

"Ah, I see your war wounds have recovered." Mei teased.

"I'd ask you to give me a war medal, but I think I'm a bit late." Sasuke jested.

The day that had long been in both of their minds had arrived, Mei was finally set to hand over the reins to Chojuro. It was going to be a glorious affair from all accounts, as people would rightfully thank and shower her in praise, for all that she had done for the village.

Sasuke for his part didn't have to give any speeches, as far as he could see, he was just there to stand pretty like the trophy partner he was.

"How do I look?" She asked.

"Exquisite as ever." He affirmed.

"You're quite dapper yourself, Uchiha." She admired.

"I've never really been one for formal wear." He admitted.

"Such a shame when you clean up that well, just missing one last piece."

"Which is?"

Mei gestured to an ornamental box on their table that had definitely not been there yesterday. Raising an eyebrow at her, Sasuke went over to the box and examined it. It looked expensive, hand crafted by a real professional then painted black. As well as formal, Sasuke didn't like wearing jewellery, showing any signs of affluence made you a target as far as he was concerned.

Gently opening the box, Sasuke half expected something to jump out at him for Mei's amusement. When didn't happen, and he saw what was instead inside of the box, he smiled.

Two rings, one that looked to be of silver with black... onyx on it? And another that was gold with a shiny emerald. The metalwork looked meticulous on both, with the jeweller probably spending a considerable time to make them, not least as because it was for the Mizukage.

"Icy white gold, with an exotic black diamond on top, that's yours. Mine is the classic yellow gold with a flawless, alluring emerald. Both of them were specially made here in the village. I chose the gemstones based on our eyes." Mei beamed.

She was only proving his point about how little he knew of jewellery, having such little knowledge of baubles that he didn't know diamonds came in black, or what white gold was. Standing in front of him, Mei took his hands in hers and looked at him intently.

"So, I am ashamed to admit that this isn't my first time asking this question but hopefully, it will be my last. Sasuke Uchiha, will you marry me?" She asked, with about as much earnest as anything he had ever heard from her.

"Yes." He responded casually.

Sasuke was not at all surprised when Mei had popped the question, though seeing her slightly disappointed reaction and the way she limply let go of his hands, he did regret that he had not given it the same weight that she had.

To Sasuke, it was only logical for them to get married. Even if they had only been "dating" for about four years, he had found everything he could have wanted from a partner in Mei. He simply did not see the point of waiting, when he knew he wasn't going to find anyone who surpassed her. Of course, he was anything but an expert in the subject, hence why he didn't move first, or sooner.

Of course for Mei, marriage had been her dream for a long time. He couldn't help but feel bad when he gave his calm, almost cold response and robbed her of a moment of pure childlike bliss.

When she turned her back to him to conceal her hurt, Sasuke swiftly spun her around to face him, placed his arms around her waist and leaned his forehead against hers.

"I'm not much good at this, though you already know that. I know it may have sounded like disinterest from me just now, but in actuality, I was just embracing it and accepting it as fact. I'm not one for big speeches, and I don't even have a lot to offer you. I'm arrogant and can be pretty egotistical occasionally. I'm also reserved at times, being quite awful at small talk. None of this has seemed to deter you though. I came to you at a time when I was directionless and aloof, you gave me a purpose once again and someone to care for other than myself. Mei Terumi, it would be my absolute pleasure to marry you."

Apparently he must have picked some things from Naruto, because his speech had the effect of turning her despondent look into the most wonderful smile he had ever seen. He brought his lips down to hers and they shared a warm, slow kiss.

"You pretend like you're not good at giving speeches, though I think you've got a few locked away somewhere up there." Mei joked.

"Possibly, though I only bring them out for special occasions. Speaking of which, I do believe you've got your own to give."

Mei nodded, before she reached in to the box and pulled out his ring. Taking his right hand, she slipped the ring on which fit almost perfectly. Admiring the diamond, Sasuke clenched his fist and found that the ring wasn't too tight or at risk of falling off.

"You can get it resized if it doesn't feel right." She told him.

"Won't be necessary." He smirked.

Sasuke repeated the exact same actions she had, only placing her ring on her left hand. He couldn't help but notice that the emerald was almost the exact same shade of green as her eyes, the jeweller had a keen memory.

"Well, I think it'll be one hell of an announcement to leave office on. You coming?" She chuckled.

"You don't have much choice on that matter anymore." Sasuke grinned, and took her hand in his before walking out to the rapturous applause of all of Kirigakure.


	10. Chapter 10

Sasuke was almost giddy with excitement as he placed the last of his belongings into his bag. Zipping it up, he threw it across his shoulders before heading to check that Mei had everything she needed. He looked out the window and saw multiple ninja carrying several pieces of luggage. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and headed downstairs to see Mei scrutinise each room.

"You got everything?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

"I think so." Mei said slowly, moving past him.

"Seems you're bringing enough stuff to last you a year." He commented.

"You're the one who wanted us to stay in Konoha." She called out from another room.

"I know, I'm just... happy, you agreed with me."

"Where's your ring?" She asked, coming back into the room.

Sasuke sighed and pulled back his collar, revealing a thin necklace that he kept his wedding ring on. Mei had always been worried that he was going to lose it, or destroy it, and since his hands were pretty essential when it came to fighting, he figured wearing it around his neck would be a better way to keep it safe. Then again, there was always the possibility that it could get caught on something and choke him to death...

Their wedding itself, had been quite the grand ceremony. Though Sasuke had wanted it to be a small and low-key affair, he knew that if there was one area where Mei would be unflinching and uncompromising, it would be this.

She had made him invite some people from Konoha, even though he didn't particularly want to. The less people in attendance, the better, in his eyes.

His point was only proven when a drunk Naruto attempted to make a speech, but instead sounded like an inebriated hyena with throat cancer. After Sakura aggressively pulled him away from the podium, the festivities continued as normal.

He didn't really want to interact with anyone, preferring to sit next to a passed out Naruto and make half-hearted small talk with Sakura. He tried to take it easy on the alcohol, because according to Mei, his tongue tended to loosen after a few drinks. The last thing he needed was to piss off anybody else and undo his minimal efforts of making amends.

"Where it normally is." He responded, letting his collar set back into place.

"Just so as long as you've got it."

"What are you, my mother?"

"Soon to be _one_." She grinned.

Sasuke returned her smile before taking her bag off her. "Will this do you for the next few hours?"

"Yeah, that's enough for today and tomorrow."

Sasuke nodded and walked outside to join the convoy of ninja carrying Mei's possessions. With a solid pace, they should make it to Konoha either tonight, or tomorrow morning if they decided to stop for rest, which, when carrying the amount of stuff Mei wanted to bring, was a very likely possibility.

Mei locked up her house and turned around to see Garuda spread its large wings. Sasuke delicately nestled her bags on Garuda's back before helping her up.

"You're not getting on?" She asked.

"I don't want to weigh him down too much. Plus, it's been a while since I stretched my, uh... Chakra." He muttered.

He whistled at Garuda as an indication to follow him, then took off into the sky. It was quite clear that Sasuke was nowhere near as fast as Garuda, and that the poor hawk was waiting for him to hurry up. Mei actually enjoyed the slower pace, as she could take in the sights from this height, plus the cool breeze was quite refreshing.

She hadn't flown since Sasuke had pushed her off unceremoniously the last time, and while she may have warned him to not do it again, she also wouldn't put it past him to completely ignore her. At least now she was quite certain that he would avoid putting her in jeopardy, as it wasn't just her that he had to worry about now.

Not long after their wedding, through the beautiful discovery of morning sickness, they had realised that she was pregnant. Sasuke was a mix of emotions, from pure joy at having his lifelong wish come through, and utter disgust at having to hold her long hair back as she retched.

In the weeks that followed, he was more attentive towards her. Not to an extent where it became uncomfortable, it was Sasuke after all, but to a point where she could appreciate having him work a little harder at home.

The side effects commonly associated with pregnancy hadn't affected her that much and she tried to not be too much of a burden to interact with. She thought she had succeeded at that, despite Sasuke having once muttered; that the pregnant " _were the worst people on the planet_ ".

It was only once her bump began to become noticeable, did things become difficult for her. Sleeping, which was once one of her favourite activities when she was with Sasuke, had become an uncomfortable task. She always had a healthy, balanced diet, yet all of a sudden certain food would either be repulsive to her, or heaven-sent.

Sasuke had always though that pregnancy cravings were a myth. The look of sheer horror etched onto his face as she made eclectic combinations of ingredients into meals, was one that proved the whole "seeing is believing" philosophy.

It was only in the past few weeks that the pains went from uncomfortable, to agonising. Sasuke's gentle massages were like magic during these times, his soft hands could coax the worst aches away.

So here they were, her being seven months pregnant, and him being two months away from having someone else to care for unconditionally.

They had made semi-frequent visits to and from Konoha over the course of her pregnancy, to carry out tests and examinations, make sure she was in perfect physical condition. Mei didn't want to stay there permanently just yet, she had wanted to wrap up affairs back in Kirigakure and say goodbye to a few people.

She had admired the work he had done on their new home when they stayed the night. It would have to be properly furnished, which is why she was bringing so much luggage and sundries from her old home, to _their_ new one.

She clutched her stomach as she felt some movement from there. The baby had been making motions for the past month, the first time it had kicked, she swore Sasuke had not stopped smiling for the rest of the day. By night time it had gotten so unnerving that she had to ask him to stop.

Seeing Konoha on the horizon, Sasuke began to slowly descend and Garuda followed suit. Mei groaned, as she knew that the next few hours were going to involve a lot of waiting, a lot of tests and just general discomfort.

She could hardly wait.

* * *

Sasuke dumped their bags in the middle of the hall, and went to lie down on the couch. Mei followed him inside and scoffed when she saw him lying face down.

"Which one of us is pregnant?" Mei asked. "You'd swear that you were the one who got examined for the past two hours."

"No, I was just the one who got overloaded with copious details about what you should and shouldn't do, even though we already knew that. They act like we're the children." Came his muffled reply.

"Well, it is the first Uchiha born in however many years, it's not to be unexpected that the village wouldn't take it this seriously."

Grunting in what seemed to be agreement, Sasuke got up, stretched and went to bring their bags upstairs.

Looking around the room, Mei noticed the distinct lack of notable furniture. It seemed bare, like a carcass picked clean by vultures. She hoped to add a woman's touch in the next few days, Sasuke's style generally consisted of a palette of plainness that, while inoffensive to the eye, also didn't do much in the way of turning heads.

Though Sasuke tended to do that all by himself, regardless of how chic he looked, he had a swagger that was all his own.

Heading upstairs to join him, she passed by a bedroom that Sasuke had prepared before they left the village the last time they were here. Inside, there was a wooden crib, constructed by Sasuke himself.

Captain Yamato, an expert in Wood Jutsu, offered to make a smooth, pristine crib for them, however Sasuke refused. He didn't give an explanation why, though Mei knew exactly the reason.

This was his life he was building, Sasuke had... personified his future into this crib, he was going to build it his way, until he was satisfied with it. While he lacked the skills to apply the same mentality to their home, his pride would not allow him to accept any help with the bed that his child would lay their head upon.

His pride had also meant several failed attempts, that resembled torture racks more than a baby's crib. Mei had also considered starting a swear box for him, simply labelled: "Splinters".

His reaction was less than amused.

Standing in the doorway of their bedroom, watching her husband put away their clothes, Mei was delighted to finally realise that the domestic life she had imagined, was coming to fruition. Being a shinobi and Kage was tiring, so very tiring. She wasn't the type of woman who refused to be tied down, never had been, so it was nice that she could finally take some control and choose when to bow out.

Her natural talent and aptitude from a young age had meant that a simple life was never going on the table for her. Duty to Kirigakure demanded that she put her skills to use in an effort to benefit the village. She wasn't unhappy with her life's path, especially considering where she was now, but there were times when she wanted to call it quits and run away to find herself.

Yet, it seemed like in a roundabout way, her hard work had paid off. She wasn't much of a believer in fate, but it did seem like every little event that led them both to this point had been planned out.

Then again, that may just be her way of justifying the less than exemplary events of the past. Believing in fate or destiny could be a nice way to wash your hands of any responsibility.

"What do you think they'll be like?"

"What?" Sasuke asked, as he put a shirt in the drawer.

"Our child, what do you think they will be like?" Mei repeated, clutching her stomach and sitting down on their bed.

"Probably half of me and half of you." Sasuke answered, to which he received a deadpan look. "I dont know, what were you like as a child?"

"Carefree and tenacious, in a place that warranted caution."

"Sounds about right." Sasuke muttered.

"What about you, were you always as stiff as a board, or did you have some semblance of childlike charisma?"

"I wasn't _that_ different to how I am now, more happy go lucky than anything, that was prior to me changing. When something of that magnitude happens, it shatters every part of you, right down to your core. I don't know who I would have grown up to become if that shattering never occurred, but I do know that I don't want them to be broken like I was."

"That won't happen, Sasuke." Mei assured him.

"I know it won't, but when you ask me what I think our child will be like, whatever personality they get from me, I just hope it's the 'before', and not 'after'. In fact, I hope any resemblance to me, is purely physical."

"I'm pretty sure that's not how genes work."

"A man can hope." Sasuke said, wearily.

"Look Sasuke, any difference there is between the man you are now, and the man you could have been, is negligible. Our child isn't going to come out of the womb swearing vengeance against Konoha, they're going to be an ordinary baby. Whatever darkness you think you still have, it's only there because you choose to hold onto it. You're not going to infect our child with hatred and you don't need to worry yourself sick over it. Just love them, and I promise they will turn out fine."

Sasuke contemplated her words as he put the last article of clothing away, he lay down next to her and gently massaged her stomach.

"I think I definitely chose the right wife."

"There were other contenders?" Mei scoffed.

"Of course, I had to consider _all_ options." He slyly grinned.

"You're saying I should be grateful?"

"No, I'm definitely the one who should be grateful." He said, seriously. "You've given me everything I could have possibly wanted in life even when I doubted you, and for that I will always love you." Sasuke kissed her in an intense and tender manner.

Breaking apart for air, she pressed her forehead to his. "I love you too, Sasuke."

Twisting around in the bed, Mei let out a content sigh as she closed her eyes and relaxed in Sasuke's embrace, as he rested an arm on top of her bump.

* * *

"You think it'll be painful?"

"It's childbirth, Sasuke, I don't think it'll tickle."

Sasuke chuckled and stopped stroking her arm. He had been trying to make small talk in order to distract her from the upcoming procedure, however it seemed like she wasn't in any mood for conversation. Tsunade had told them that the medical team wouldn't be long while they got prepared for surgery.

Mei woke up this morning in severe pain and told him that her contractions were intense enough for her to know that this was it. Sasuke immediately flew her over to the hospital and practically took it over, barking orders to the staff like they were Genin.

It wasn't long before Tsunade came to take over the situation and told him to go wait with Mei and ensure she was okay.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, I'm the one who is more than likely end up with a broken hand, I've seen how strong you are."

"I think a broken hand is more than worth the birth of your child, no?" Mei teased before groaning.

"Anything I can do?" Sasuke asked, his voice full of concern.

"No, I just want to get this little monster out of me." She laughed weakly.

Sasuke smirked and debated going to look for Tsunade again, but decided against it to stay with Mei. Her pain was almost tangible to him, and he wished there was something he could do to give her some relief.

"You nervous?" He asked, to which Mei shook her head.

"We've got the best medical team on the planet assembling just for us, in a village where this child may as well be royalty with how important they are. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I lose you and the baby, lose all sense of sanity and reason. Go on a rampage and burn Konoha to the ground, only to meet a grisly demise from Naruto who has no choice but to finally put me down."

"It sounds like you've been planning this, aren't you meant to be comforting me?" She moaned.

"I thought I was, it was a very poetic and romantic ending about how devastated I would be if I lost either of you." Sasuke grinned.

"Well, your tragic musings aside I hope not to lose anyone today."

"I concur." Sasuke smiled and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

It was at that moment when Tsunade stepped into the room donning her full surgeon scrubs. "It's time."

Sasuke placed a hand on Mei's shoulder before moving to the chair beside the bed while the rest of the required staff followed Tsunade in.

"I'm going to hold your hand every step of the way." Sasuke assured her.

"I'll try not to break it then." She laughed before groaning in pain as another contraction rocked her.

"All things considered, I probably deserve it."

Sasuke wiped one of the stray hairs that fell down onto her face, before placing his arm on the bedrail and gently taking her hand in his. Her grip was limp now, though the painful thought of that changing imminently was enough for another grin to spread across his features.

Gazing into her emerald eyes, Sasuke gave her the most supportive look he could muster, which instantly fell apart as Mei clenched his hand tightly and let out a gut-wrenching scream.


	11. Chapter 11

Introspection was something that he had a natural talent for, contemplating choices he had made, the roads he had walked. It was usually his method of coping with failure or joy, not letting either one overwhelm him too much. Even at this stage in his life, Sasuke couldn't help but reflect on his journey.

He was thankful that he had evolved from a brooding narcissist, with more power than sense, a chip on his shoulder, and who spewed monologues like a sprinkler sprayed water. Now, he resembled a more peaceful, still slightly self-important father who, at twenty five years old, was in the best shape of his life; physically, mentally and emotionally.

Looking over to the woman sleeping next to him, he couldn't stop the smile from spreading if he tried. There was a time where he would have scoffed at waking up next to the person he loved being his favourite thing in life. He could see the pretentious little shit right now, looking back at him and rolling his eyes, wondering how he got so soft.

He also could see his younger self crying himself to sleep, and being so alone that the only company he had was the raspy voice in his head, that filled him with such awful thoughts, he wasn't sure if he was losing his mind or if that was just the real him. He'd pick "soft", over depressed, any day of the week.

He wasn't embarrassed about being openly happy, out of all the things people have whispered about him behind his back, that was one he wouldn't take much offence to.

Hearing a low murmur escape from her lips, Sasuke turned his attention back to his wife. Running his hand through her long and soft hair, he gently placed a kiss on the nape of her neck.

People had said their relationship wouldn't last, they pointed to his darkest moments, her tumultuous dating history. They made for strange bedfellows, yet somehow, they make for the most natural and loving spouses, and parents.

Sasuke was certain that semi-retirement would be boring, yet he actually found it more enjoyable than Mei, who was used to working herself to exhaustion in the past. Domestic life suited him more than a lot of people thought it would, he wasn't sure what they expected. Him being a rolling stone might have something to do with their preconceived notions, but in actuality, his ventures served as a means of reflection for him, as well as for finding clarity in the new world.

Knowing that he didn't have to stand vigilant in case any other sociopath with delusions of grandeur showed up, was definitely reassuring. As was the fact that anyone who intended him or his family harm was now either dead, knew better than to try and cross either of them, or in the best case scenario, had actually accepted his atonement.

So, contrary to popular opinion, he wasn't miserable to be at home with his wife and child. In fact, he still did loose work around the village, offering combat advice to Genin, a few odd jobs for civilians, that kind of thing. But his primary concern was now focused on his new job of being a father.

Speaking of which, at that moment a faint cry from the other room caught his attention. Silently sliding out of bed so as to not wake up Mei, Sasuke crept out of their bedroom and headed down the hall to his distressed child.

He secretly prided himself on keeping his home immaculate, even with a new baby turning the house upside down. It was as if the child knew they were royalty and could get away with murder.

Well, maybe not the latter given their last name.

Sasuke stepped into his child's room where the whining only got louder as the infant heard the door open. The last traces of moonlight reflected against some stray ninja tools on the shelf. Sasuke looked at them with contempt, as they symbolised something that he was powerless against.

He couldn't remember who had sent them, hadn't even thought much of them until Kakashi had joked that it wouldn't be long until the new _prodigy_ would be an expert at wielding them.

He didn't know why, but something rubbed him the wrong way about that comment when he first heard it. It was only later that he realised it was the high expectations already set for his child.

The first time Sasuke held his son in his arms, he was spellbound with wonder and worry. The sudden weight of the world that he brought the boy into came crashing down on him. While he had done everything possible to eliminate the physical threats towards his child, there wasn't a lot he could do about the stigmas, pressures and scrutiny.

If the rabid interest for the fetus growing in Mei's womb had been any indication of the fervour to come, then any chance of a normal childhood was out. It wasn't possible to shelter his son from the world, but Sasuke would not let the weight of high expectations crush his son like they did his brother.

Picking the boy up from the crib that he painstakingly crafted, the infant quieted down and looked up wide-eyed at his father. Sasuke smiled softly and sat down in the lone chair that he and Mei would use when holding or feeding the baby. He gazed into the two charcoal eyes staring back at up at him and hoped with every fiber of his being that it would be a long time before they got their inevitable red swirl.

Though he would never admit it, Sasuke was relieved that it appeared the boy would grow up to look like him, more than his mother. He loved Mei, but this petty preference was something he needed, to see another Uchiha exactly how he remembered them was almost too good to be true.

The first few days of being a parent hadn't been too difficult. If anything, the worst part was the line of people that would come in like clockwork to see the "miracle child". Sasuke was amazed at how Mei managed to keep up her friendly demeanour after all she had went through. If it were him in her position, he would have told any visitors in no uncertain terms, exactly how he felt about their intrusions.

Once they had been cleared to leave the hospital and finally gotten home, it began to dawn on Sasuke that they were now all on their own in watching a four-day-old child. It was all well and good to watch the nurses handle his son with such great care, it was another thing entirely to do it himself. His initial wonder had given way to the reality of how delicate a newborn baby was.

Sasuke had almost wrenched the boy out of the Tsunade's hands so he could feel him, just to be reassured that he was real, that he was actually here and healthy. Mei had said it was the only time she had ever seen him truly awe-struck.

Sasuke had a feeling that she would be even more protective than he was, he could imagine her closely inspecting his every act. While his first reaction had been to stare in amazement, Mei had been silently affectionate. Seeing his son in her arms just felt right, it was like there was already an unspoken bond between mother and child that Sasuke couldn't even begin to comprehend.

For the first week, Sasuke practically refused to handle the boy, in fear of somehow hurting him. Thankfully, Sasuke needn't have worried about having Mei watch his every move, she was supportive and showed him exactly how to nurture their son.

She told him that he could never hurt his own flesh and blood, his dedication and devotion to bring them into the world, showed a level of commitment and love that would never turn to pain. He responded by saying that he never would have had that devotion and love without her.

Mei then assured him with a smile that if he ever did hurt their baby, she would kill him. He well believed it.

After that day, it just became natural, and soon enough Sasuke had taken to parenting like a duck to water.

When it came to deciding on a name for the newborn, Sasuke let Mei do the honors. Surprisingly, it was the one thing he never really gave much thought to. He was a practical man at heart, making sure they would have a roof over their heads and a place to rest them, was his main objective.

Mei took a few days to ponder on the matter. When she finally got back to him, he had to admit, he thought she was joking.

Kei.

On the surface, it wasn't the most creative name, being just one letter different from her own. When she sensed his initial apprehension and skepticism, she revealed it's true meaning.

Kei was a name with several denotations, one of the most apt being: "Blessing".

It was just like her to pay attention to detail. She always loved to put a symbolic gesture into something significant, it was the same with their wedding rings.

The following day, Sasuke walked into his son's room and carved his name into his crib.

Holding Kei and standing in the doorway, Mei couldn't help but see the irony in Sasuke putting the word 'blessing' onto a structure that took many, many attempts to make.

Getting used to the lack of sleep was another matter entirely. Sasuke was always content sleeping in and getting up whenever he felt like, having no real responsibilities or obligations. In the past, it wasn't uncommon for Mei to wake up in the morning, go to work, and come back in the afternoon to find him still dozing in bed.

There was no true test of unconditional love for Sasuke, like denying him sleep.

On that note, Sasuke felt his eyes grow heavy and looked down to see Kei looking back up expectantly at him.

"Let's go see your mother." He whispered to the child with a smile. The boy beamed at him, as if the mere mention of his mother was enough to make him instantly gleeful.

Sasuke opened the door to their bedroom to find Mei had also awoken.

"Hey." Came a sleepy greeting with a soft smile.

Sasuke handed him over to her and gently slid back under the covers. Kei's reaction to seeing her was a slight squeal of joy and a face full of happiness. Was it possible for a three-month-old child to already choose a favourite parent? Mei lightly laid the boy in between the both of them.

"He wake you up again?" Mei asked Sasuke.

"No actually, I just happened to be awake."

"Oh?"

"Just contemplating the finer points of life."

"Come to any great philosophical conclusions?" She asked while Kei wrapped his hand around one of her fingers.

"Nothing I didn't already know." Sasuke replied with a grin, before leaning over and kissing her cheek.

"You know, I think he's going to be a very pretty boy, just like his father. I can see the trail of broken hearts already." Mei cooed.

"Yeah, but just imagine the one girl he decides to make the happiest in the world."

"Hm, somehow I think he won't be as quick to settle down as you were."

"You never know, he meets someone who he knows is the one, it could be love at first sight."

"Tch, I never took you for an old school romantic."

"I'm hurt, I thought I did an exceptional job in courting you."

"Our relationship literally started off as you coming to me for casual sex."

"Are you implying I wasn't a gentleman when we first met?" Sasuke's voice feigned hurt.

"No, your flirting was definitely chivalrous, you're a regular knight in shining armour. I especially liked the times when you came in like a thief in the night, and left the next morning without so much as a note on the nightstand." Mei responded sarcastically.

He wasn't sure if he had a comeback for that one.

"How long do you think it'll be before he starts talking?" Sasuke asked, changing the subject.

"Well, given what a conversationalist you are, I wouldn't be surprised if he became a mute."

Sasuke turned to look at her and cocked his head. "If you're going to keep talking to me that way, I think you should go back to sleep."

Mei reached over and nibbled on his ear as a way of apology. She then rested her head on his shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her.

"Do you-" Sasuke started before stopping himself.

"What?" She asked softly.

"Nah, don't worry about it."

"Sasuke?"

She could tell whenever something was weighing heavily on his mind, he usually had this thoughtful look in his eye and a voice which suggested a heavy heart. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed.

"Is it possible that he can ever live up to the impossible expectations set for him?" He asked.

Mei was silent for a few moments while she thought of a response.

"I think he'll be just fine so long as we don't stifle him. You know that parenting is just about finding the right balance. We've done everything possible to protect him, eventually it'll be up to him to stand up for himself, if it comes to it."

"If it comes to it?" Sasuke scoffed. "I know it's been a while since you were that young, but I think you're forgetting that children, for the most part, are awful."

"I bet you were a _strong_ testament to that." Mei drawled.

There was few moments of silence while they amusedly watched Kei fumble around on the bed. The boy definitely had a natural inclination to move, Mei might not have been too far off with the 'mute' comment. It certainly looked like he would walk before he could talk anyway.

"You think he'll ever get around to reading those books we got him?" She eventually asked.

"I have no doubt. Tales of war and conflict? I imagine it'll be right up his alley." He scoffed.

"Don't project yourself onto your son, he'll be a lover not a fighter."

"That sounds like your own projection right there. Given your love life, I can only hope his turns out better."

"I certainly hope he has higher standards than me."

Sasuke chuckled at that and looked at Kei attempt to use Mei's leg as balance to try and help him stand. There really was no predicting what Kei would grow to become, for all they knew he could be dyslexic. Which, given the amount of power in the Uchiha eyes, would be a fairly awkward discovery.

Regardless, Mei was right, he had done everything he could to start his son down the right path, worrying about every minute detail would be futile. No matter how he turned out, Kei would be loved unconditionally by both of them.

Well, within reason.

Sasuke grabbed the bumbling baby and lay him down on his chest, the boy threatened to cry until Mei gently stroked his back to calm him down. He let out a small yawn before settling down and listening to the steady beat of his father's heart, eventually returning to sleep. Sasuke and Mei observed the dulcet sounds of their resting child, a strong sense of protectiveness flooded through them.

Sasuke placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Thank you, for giving me everything I could have possibly wanted out of life." He whispered.

Mei returned his kiss with a peck on his chest and snuggled up next to him.

"I love you." She said sincerely.

"I love you too, both of you."

As the first rays of morning light crept through the blinds, Sasuke held his family close and for once, let the feeling of pure bliss engulf him. These were the moments he hoped to remember in the future, the simpler times of mundane life.

He was suddenly reminded of all the nights him and Mei had spent just simply talking. It definitely said something that those were memories which stuck out to him the most over the past few years.

Normality was definitely good in Sasuke's eyes, and this day was already looking to be perfect.

* * *

 **A/N: And that is that. You know this started off as just being a series of one shots, then somewhere in the middle a plot started to rear it's head out of nowhere.**

 **I think I've just about run out of ideas of what to do with these two at this point, so probably best I just leave it at this. If I suddenly become inspired out of nowhere then I'll just add another chapter here.**

 **If you've read up to this point then let me thank you for sticking with the story all the way through. Shout out to everyone who favourited and followed, you guys are awesome.**

 **Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it, especially StopTeasing for reviewing every chapter without fail.**

 **Thank you very much for reading, hope you enjoyed it.**


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